The DART mission by NASA successfully demonstrated asteroid deflection through kinetic impact by altering the motion of the asteroid Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos. Two years later, the European Space Agency's Hera mission is preparing to launch to study the same asteroid. Scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral on October 7 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Hera will travel several hundred million kilometers before reaching its destination in October 2026. The Hera spacecraft is similar in size to a small car, weighing approximately 1,081 kilograms. This ESA mission aims to examine the impact of NASA's DART probe on Dimorphos and its effect on the double asteroid. Data from the DART mission was obtained through an Italian CubeSat and images taken before the impact, while the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes also contributed valuable information. By analyzing observations from various ground-based telescopes, it was confirmed that DART successfully changed the trajectory of Dimorphos and shortened its orbital period around Didymos. Studies suggest that the impact left a trail thousands of kilometers long, which could potentially enter Earth's atmosphere. Hera's main objective is to investigate the aftermath of the impact to provide crucial insights for the scientific community and space agencies.The aim is to achieve results and enhance models that effectively redirect asteroids away from potential collisions with Earth or space infrastructure. Moreover, the Hera mission is set to thoroughly investigate a binary asteroid system, specifically the Didymos and Dimorphos pair, marking the first specialized mission to study such asteroid binaries. With 15% of known asteroids existing as binaries, this exploration will provide valuable insights for scientists to improve their understanding of asteroid characteristics and behaviors.
Image Credit: Instagram/@europeanspaceagency NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART mission, achieved a significant feat by demonstrating a method of asteroid deflection. This was accompli...