ESA's Hera asteroid probe gained momentum during flyby of Mars
Next year, Hera will investigate the consequences of the targeted impact of the Dart probe into an asteroid moon. It has now gained momentum on Mars.
Image of Mars and the rarely photographed rear side of Deimos in the near-infrared spectrum
(Image: ESA)
(Image:Â ESA/JAXA)
The asteroid probe Hera has taken a flyby of Mars and captured impressive images of Deimos, the smaller of the Red Planet's two moons. The space probe activated a total of three instruments during the flyby, explains the European Space Agency ESA. It photographed Mars from a distance of just 5000 km in different spectra, and Deimos from a distance of just 1000 km. The ESA team even put together a short movie from several images taken by a black and white camera, showing the flyby of the moon, which is only 12.4 km across.
Hera was launched in the fall and has since been on its way to the asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos. In September 2022, the NASA probe Dart deliberately crashed into the latter, changing its orbit around Didymos. From 2026, the ESA probe is to find out exactly what consequences this had. The mission is intended to help protect the Earth from devastating asteroid impacts in the future. With the maneuver on Mars, Hera has now shortened the travel time there by months and saved a "substantial amount of fuel", as the ESA writes. Relative to the Red Planet, the probe was traveling at around 9 km/s.
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For the images of Mars and Deimos, the probe has now used the Asteroid Framing Camera, which takes black and white photos primarily for navigation purposes. Other images were taken by the hyperspectral imager Hyperscout, which can also image colors outside the human field of vision. The probe collected information on the surface temperature of the two celestial bodies using the TIRI (Thermal Infrared Imager) infrared camera. The other instruments on board could not be used effectively or are not yet ready for use due to the high speed or the great distance to the two objects. Hera is due to arrive at its destination in 21 months.
(mho)
