Credit: Instagram/@europeanspaceagency
NASA’s DART mission accomplished a significant milestone by showcasing a technique to steer asteroids in space through kinetic impact. In September 2022, a cost-effective spacecraft collided with asteroid Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos, successfully altering their path. Now, the European Space Agency's Hera mission is preparing to launch to study the same asteroid. The launch is scheduled from Cape Canaveral on October 7 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The Hera spacecraft, the size of a small car and weighing about 1,081 kilograms, will travel several hundred million kilometers before reaching the asteroid in October 2026.
This ESA mission aims to analyze the impact of NASA’s DART probe on Dimorphos and its impact on the double asteroid. Data from an Italian miniaturized satellite deployed before the DART mission, alongside images taken by DART pre-impact, provided valuable insights about the asteroid's surface properties. Observations from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes further contributed crucial information. Through collaborative efforts from ground-based telescopes worldwide, it was confirmed that DART effectively modified Dimorphos's trajectory, resulting in a shorter orbital period of 11.22 hours compared to the previous 11.55 hours.
Recent studies suggest that the impact left a trail extending thousands of kilometers, which could potentially interact with Earth's atmosphere in the future. Hera’s main objective is to investigate the aftermath of the impact, aiding the scientific community and space agencies in understanding the broader implications of asteroid redirection missions.The goal is to achieve better outcomes and enhance models to redirect asteroids from potentially colliding with Earth or space facilities. Moreover, the Hera mission is set to perform a thorough examination of a binary asteroid system, marking the initial specialized expedition to investigate asteroid pairs like Didymos and Dimorphos. Binary asteroids make up 15% of all known asteroids, making this exploration crucial for advancing scientists' comprehension of asteroid characteristics and behaviors.
