Hera (space mission)

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Hera

Mission type	Asteroid orbiter
Operator	European Space Agency
Website	heramission.space
Mission duration	Planned: 6 months on orbit
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	OHB SE
Launch mass	870 kg (1,920 lb)
Dry mass	350 kg (770 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	October 2024 (planned)[1]
Rocket	Falcon 9 Block 5[2]
Contractor	SpaceX
65803 Didymos orbiter
Orbital insertion	2026
Instruments AFC Asteroid Framing Camera TIRI Thermal Infra Red Imager PALT Planetary Altimeter RSE Radio Science Experiment HS HyperScout-H

Hera is a space mission in development at the European Space Agency in its Space Safety program. Its primary objective is to study the Didymos binary asteroid system that was impacted by DART and contribute to validation of the kinetic impact method to deviate a near-Earth asteroid in a colliding trajectory with Earth. It will measure the size and the morphology of the crater created and momentum transferred by an artificial projectile impacting an asteroid, which will allow measuring the efficiency of the deflection produced by the impact. It will also analyze the expanding debris cloud caused by the impact.^[3]

The spacecraft will be launched in October 2024 and will also study the results of DART impactor, four years after NASA's mission. DART impacted the asteroid Dimorphos, the smaller of two objects forming the binary asteroid 65803 Didymos, on 27 September 2022.

Hera has a mass of 1128 kilograms and carries a payload of cameras, an altimeter, and a spectrometer. It will also carry two nano-satellite CubeSats, called Milani and Juventas.

Hera will fully characterise the composition and physical properties of the binary asteroid system including, for the first time, the sub-surface and internal structures. It will also perform technological demonstrations linked to operations in the vicinity of a small body and the deployment and the communication with CubeSats in interplanetary space.