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ESA\u2019s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence seen with one of its two solar wings added, during its continuing test campaign at the ESTEC Test Centre in the Nethelands.<\/p>\n
The van-sized spacecraft, left, is powered by a pair of solar array wings, made up of three panels each, provided by Beyond Gravity<\/a> in Switzerland.<\/p>\n One of these 5-m-long wings was added for Hera\u2019s \u2018cold deployment check\u2019 \u2013 a manual unfolding process to confirm that the wing fits correctly. Because the solar wings have been designed to operate in weightlessness they were supported by a frame during this test deployment.<\/p>\n Hera<\/a>\u00a0is Europe\u2019s contribution to an international planetary defence experiment. Following the DART mission\u2019s impact with the Dimorphos asteroid last year \u2013\u00a0modifying its orbit and sending a plume of debris thousands of kilometres out into space<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Hera will return to Dimorphos to perform a close-up survey of the crater left by DART. The mission will also measure Dimorphos\u2019 mass and make-up, along with that of the larger Didymos asteroid that Dimorphos orbits around.<\/p>\n