\n<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t14\/10\/2024<\/span> ESA\u2019s Hera mission for planetary defence has taken its first images using three of the instruments that will be used to explore and study the asteroids Dimorphos and Didymos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Following a successful launch on 7 October 2024, Hera\u2019s instruments were switched on for the first time as part of the spacecraft\u2019s ongoing Near-Earth Commissioning Phase. On Thursday 10 October and Friday 11 October, Hera\u2019s asteroid deck, which houses the spacecraft\u2019s instruments, was pointed back towards our planet and three of its instruments captured their first images of Earth and the Moon from a distance of more than one million km.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Hera\u2019s Asteroid Framing Camera (AFC) captured this farewell image of Earth (bottom left) and the Moon (centre) on 11 October from a distance of approximately 1.6 million km. Earth is oriented with north pointing upwards, with the Pacific Ocean illuminated by the Sun.<\/p>\n Incorporating two baffle-protected cameras for redundancy, each of Hera\u2019s two Asteroid Framing Cameras is a 1020×1020 monochrome visible light sensor. The cameras are used both for navigation and for scientific investigation and were produced by Jena-Optronik in Germany, based on its ASTROhead design.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Hera\u2019s Thermal Infrared Imager (TIRI) instrument captured this image of Earth and the Moon from a distance of approximately 1.4 million kilometres. Earth is in the centre of the image and oriented with north pointing upwards, showing the East coast of the USA and the Atlantic Ocean. The Moon is visible in the top right of the image.<\/p>\n TIRI will image the Dimorphos asteroid in the mid-infrared spectral region to chart the temperature on the asteroid\u2019s surface. By charting the ‘thermal inertia’ of surface regions \u2013 or how rapidly their temperature changes \u2013 physical properties such as roughness, particle size distribution and porosity can be deduced. TIRI was supplied by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, manufactured by Meisei Electric Co. Ltd. and inherited from the instrument onboard the agency\u2019s Hayabusa2 asteroid mission, with contributions from The\u00a0Belgian\u00a0Science Policy Office (BELSPO).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Hera\u2019s HyperScout H instrument captured this false-colour image of Earth and the Moon from a distance of approximately 1.6 million kilometres. Earth (bottom right) is oriented with north pointing upwards, with the Pacific Ocean illuminated by the Sun. The Moon is visible in the top right of the image.<\/p>\n HyperScout H will observe the Dimorphos asteroid in a range of colours far beyond the limits of the human eye and help determine the asteroid\u2019s mineral makeup. The hyperspectral imager covers the 650\u2013950 nm wavelength range, with colours coded so that blue represents the shortest wavelengths and red represents the longest. The shoebox-sized imaging spectrometer was provided by cosine remote sensing in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t208<\/span> views<\/small><\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t4<\/span> likes<\/small><\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n[A] Asteroid Framing Camera, AFC<\/h2>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n[B] Thermal Infrared Imager, TIRI <\/h2>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n[D] HyperScout H <\/h2>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n