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\t\t\t\t\t\t08\/11\/2024<\/span> ESA\u2019s Hera mission has completed the first critical manoeuvre on its journey to the Didymos binary asteroid system since launch on 7 October.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n On 23 October, Hera fired its three orbital control thrusters for 100 minutes, kicking off its first deep-space manoeuvre and changing its velocity by approximately 146 m\/s. A second burn on 6 November lasted 13 minutes with the aim of providing an additional boost of around 20 m\/s.<\/p>\n Together, these burns have put Hera on a trajectory that will enable a gravity assist at Mars in March 2025.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cDeep-space manoeuvres are often split into parts,\u201d explains Sylvain Lodiot, Hera Spacecraft Operations Manager. \u201cThe first, larger burn does most of the work. Then, after precisely measuring the spacecraft\u2019s trajectory, we use the second, smaller burn to correct any inaccuracy and provide the rest of the required boost.\u201d<\/p>\n The manoeuvre followed three successful test burns performed in the weeks after launch by Hera\u2019s control team at ESA\u2019s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Germany.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The team used the Agency\u2019s deep space radio dishes in Spain, Argentina and Australia to track Hera during the manoeuvre and to precisely measure its velocity before and after each burn.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are now analysing Hera\u2019s new trajectory following the second burn,\u201d says Francesco Castellini from ESOC\u2019s Flight Dynamics team, the mathematical experts that keep ESA missions across the Solar System on track.<\/p>\n \u201cIt appears to have gone very well. We will execute a much smaller correction manoeuvre of a few tens of cm\/s on 21\u00a0November to fine-tune the trajectory for the upcoming Mars flyby.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Hera is on a two-year journey to the Didymos binary asteroid system, where it will analyse the results of humankind\u2019s first asteroid deflection experiment.<\/p>\n The recent deep-space manoeuvre was carefully calculated to line Hera up for a gravity assist in March 2025 that will shorten the travel time to Didymos.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cWe are very fortunate that Mars is in the right place at the right time to lend a hand to Hera,\u201d says Pablo Mu\u00f1oz from ESOC\u2019s Mission Analysis team, who planned Hera\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n \u201cThis enabled us to design a trajectory that uses the gravity of Mars to accelerate Hera towards Didymos, offering substantial fuel savings to the mission and allowing Hera to arrive at the asteroids months earlier than would otherwise be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Hera will also use the Mars flyby for some opportunistic science. The ESA teams have designed a trajectory that will see the spacecraft fly past Deimos at a distance of just 300 km before passing Mars itself, offering a rare chance to study this small and mysterious martian moon.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Hera will then carry out a second deep space manoeuvre in February 2026 before a sequence of rendezvous manoeuvres\u00a0from October to December 2026 brings it into proximity of the asteroids.<\/p>\n At Didymos, Hera will begin its mission to answer questions such as: How and why do binary asteroid systems form? When NASA\u2019s DART mission impacted Didymos\u2019s moonlet Dimorphos in 2022, did it leave a crater, or did it reshape the entire asteroid? What is Dimorphos\u2019s internal structure?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n It\u2019s a busy time for ESA\u2019s asteroid teams. October saw the launch of the Agency\u2019s first asteroid mission, Hera, and the start of work\u00a0on its second asteroid mission, the proposed Ramses mission to asteroid Apophis.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, ESA\u2019s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre\u00a0has continued discovering, tracking and analysing new asteroids from the ground and recently helped to identify the tenth asteroid ever\u00a0discovered prior to Earth impact.<\/p>\n Next week, a team from the Agency’s\u00a0Planetary Defence Office\u00a0will meet with experts from around Europe and\u00a0beyond at ESOC in Germany to discuss how to more accurately measure the size of potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids. This workshop is funded by the European Commission.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMars lends a hand<\/h2>\n
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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\nAsteroid community gathers at ESOC<\/h2>\n
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