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Europe’s Hera mission is ready to double down on asteroid science
Science News · By Meghan Bartels ·
The Brief · written from 3 sources
- ESA's Hera spacecraft has begun close inspections of the Didymos binary asteroid system.
- Hera is inspecting the asteroid that NASA rammed in a 2022 planetary defense test.
- ESA's early preview image was taken from 56 km away and shows the main 780-m-diameter Didymos asteroid, with part of its 151-m moonlet Dimorphos visible.
Why it matters
Hera's close-up data on Didymos and Dimorphos will show the physical effects of the 2022 impact, which informs whether kinetic impactors can deflect hazardous asteroids.
Who’s affected
- planetary defense researchers
- asteroid scientists
- space engineers
- #asteroids
- #planetary defense
- #hera mission
- #didymos
- #dart
- #space missions
Europe’s Hera spacecraft is just beginning its exploration of the binary asteroid Didymos in a mission that’s tantalizing scientists on two fronts.
Timeline
Hera begins close inspections of the Didymos binary asteroid system
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Europe's Hera spacecraft begins close inspections of an asteroid rammed by NASA in a 2022 test
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Europe’s Hera mission is ready to double down on asteroid science
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Europe’s Hera mission is ready to double down on asteroid science
- 7h ago ↗
Space News - Space, Astronomy, Space Exploration
Europe's Hera spacecraft begins close inspections of an asteroid rammed by NASA in a 2022 test