Hera (space mission)

Hera
The drawing shows an idea, about Hera in orbit around the asteroid Didymos
Mission typeDidymos orbiter
OperatorEuropean Space Agency
COSPAR ID2024-180A
SATCAT no.61449
Websiteheramission.space
Mission durationPlanned (science phase): 6 months
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerOHB SE
Launch mass1,128 kg (2,487 lb)
Dry mass350 kg (770 lb)
Dimensions1.6 × 1.6 × 1.7 m (5.2 × 5.2 × 5.6 ft)
Start of mission
Launch date7 October 2024, 14:52 UTC[1][2] (planned)
RocketFalcon 9 Block 5
Launch siteCape Canaveral, SLC‑40
ContractorSpaceX
Flyby of Mars
Closest approachMarch 2025[3]
Distance5,000–8,000 km (3,100–5,000 mi)
65803 Didymos orbiter
Orbital insertion14 December 2026[3]
 

Hera is a spacecraft that has been made for the European Space Agency and its Space Safety program. It's mission objective is to study the Didymos binary asteroid system that was collided by NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft four years before Hera.

It was launched on October 7, 2024[4] by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket

Sources

  1. "Hera". ESA. September 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  2. "Falcon 9 (Block 5) | Hera". NextSpaceflight.com. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Hera". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. NASA. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  4. https://yle.fi/a/74-20115406. Retrieved 2024-10-07