Hera is ESA’s first planetary defence mission, heading to a unique target among the 1.3 million known asteroids of our Solar System. On 26 September 2022 NASA’s DART mission performed humankind’s first test of asteroid deflection by crashing into the Great-Pyramid-sized Dimorphos moonlet. The result was a shift in its orbit around the mountain-sized Didymos main asteroid.
Now comes ESA’s own contribution to this international collaboration: the Hera mission will revisit Dimorphos to gather vital close-up data about the deflected body.
In this video, Ingo Gerth, Hera Systems Engineering Manager at OHB, explains that the role of OHB as Hera’s prime contractor is being responsible for the entire satellite, and therefore coordinating the work of twenty companies. Ingo enlightens us with inside knowledge of the steps required to reach launch day. He can’t wait to see if the satellite performs in space exactly as they planned on the ground!
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