On its way to Didymos and Dimorphos, Hera has found time to test its cameras in preparation for the big moment.

Now, Hera is returning to the system to help turn asteroid deflection into a reliable technique for planetary defense. Hera enters the asteroid belt Hera launched from Earth on 7 October 2024 and flew ...

ESA's Hera spacecraft is currently headed toward the aftermath of NASA's DART asteroid-deflection test. But first, it'll stop by Mars to study the Martian moon Deimos.

Together, these burns have put Hera on a trajectory that will enable a gravity assist at Mars in March 2025. "Deep-space maneuvers are often split into parts," explains Sylvain Lodiot, Hera ...

The flyby of Mars and Deimos wasn't a detour but a necessary maneuver to put the spacecraft on the right trajectory toward its ultimate destination. Swinging within 3,100 miles of Mars, Hera used ...

ESA's Hera mission flying by Mars. See views captured with its Asteroid Framing Cameras. Credit; ESA - European Space Agency ...

When Hera arrives at Mars, it will use the gravity of the planet to push it toward its target, Dimorphos, which is the smaller partner of the Didymos asteroid and where it will arrive in late 2026.

Europe's HERA mission has taken a good look at Mars and its moon Deimos on its way to explore the aftermath of the DART impact in the Didymos–Dimorphos asteroid system.

During a flyby of Mars on Wednesday (March 12), ESA's Hera spacecraft inaugurated use of its science instruments to image the smaller of the planet's two moons, Deimos.

Hera came as near as 5000 kilometres to the surface of Mars, receiving a gravity boost that will fling it onwards to Dimorphos. The manoeuvre shortened its journey time by many months and saved it ...

An asteroid-chasing spacecraft just swung past Mars on Wednesday. As it zipped by, it took hundreds of shots of the Red Planet, as well as several snaps of Deimos, one of the two small Martian moons.

A new simulated mission to Mars has begun! Four volunteers stepped inside the tiny HERA habitat yesterday to live & work like astronauts for 45 days. The crew will help @NASA study how isolation ...