Planetary Defense Mission: Hera Launches for Asteroid Crash Scene Investigation

ESA’s Hera mission lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA, on October 7 at 10:52 local time (16:52 CEST, 14:52 UTC). Hera is ESA’s first planetary defense mission. Its mission to the Didymos asteroid system seeks to perfect asteroid deflection techniques following the success of NASA’s DART mission, potentially making Earth safer from cosmic threats.

ESA’s Hera spacecraft has embarked on a groundbreaking mission to the binary asteroid system, Didymos, to enhance planetary defense techniques.

This mission follows NASA’s successful DART mission which altered the orbit of Didymos’ moonlet, Dimorphos. Hera will perform in-depth studies to understand and refine the kinetic impact method for asteroid deflection, aiming to transform asteroid impacts from a dire threat to a preventable event.

The European Space Agency’s first planetary defense spacecraft, Hera, has departed planet Earth. Its destination is a unique asteroid among the over 1.3 million cataloged in our Solar System—the only one whose orbit has been altered by human intervention. Hera’s mission is to unravel the enduring mysteries of this deflection.

By enhancing our scientific understanding of the ‘kinetic impact’ method for asteroid deflection, Hera strives to safeguard our planet. This mission aligns with a broader goal to transform the threat of asteroid impacts into a preventable class of natural disaster.

Developed as part of ESA’s Space Safety program and sharing technological heritage with the Agency’s Rosetta comet hunter, Hera lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA, on October 7 at 10:52 local time (16:52 CEST, 14:52 UTC) with its solar arrays deploying about one hour later.