As part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) planetary protection mission, the Hera satellite was launched on Monday with the private space exploration company SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher called the mission “a step in the direction of planetary protection”. Rolf Densing, director of ESA’s flight control center in Darmstadt, added that “for the first time in human history, we have an opportunity to protect the planet.”
So far, astronomers are not aware of any asteroid that would pose a threat to Earth in the next three generations
Aschbacher explained.
The purpose of the Hera satellite is to investigate the binary asteroid Didymos, including the first assessment of its internal properties, as well as detailed measurements of the kinetic impactor test results of the NASA DART mission.
The “eyes” of the probe, the six optical cameras, were calibrated by the researchers of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). They will also calibrate the images coming from the probe, so that the scientists performing the analyzes can work with accurate material.
There is little information about the material and material density of asteroids, and without them, it is uncertain to divert an asteroid from its orbit with a rocket or explosion. For example, when NASA guided its DART spacecraft into the 160-meter-diameter moon of an asteroid in 2022, the collision caused a significantly larger dust cloud and trajectory change than previously calculated, BME told MTI.
Hera is expected to provide valuable information for future asteroid intercept missions and science: helping to understand the geophysics of asteroids and the formation and evolution of the Solar System.
Two mini-satellites are also located in its main spacecraft, which are ejected and put into orbit when they reach the asteroid, so a total of three satellites will take pictures, perform measurements and observations.
Hera is expected to reach the asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos in 2027. The spacecraft will pass by Mars, where it will perform a so-called swing maneuver. ESA leaders have not yet determined the exact course of the mission, but according to their plans, one of the minisatellites will land on the surface of Dimorphos. The Hera mission could be an important step in asteroid research.
Source: magyarnemzet.hu
