The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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On 12 March 2025 ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence performs a flyby of Mars. Mars’s gravity will shift the spacecraft’s trajectory towards the Didymos binary asteroid system, shortening its trip by months and saving substantial fuel. This manoeuvre also marks the first time scientific use of Hera’s instruments, to image Deimos – the smaller and more enigmatic of Mars’s two moons.
Watch the star-studded webcast image release from Hera’s flyby by the mission’s science team on Thursday 13 March, starting at 11:50 CET!
Almost all ESA interplanetary missions make some use of the gravity fields of passing planets to gain velocity or change trajectory. These gravity assists are planned by ESA’s Flight Dynamics Team at ESOC in Germany and carried out by the Flight Control team. They are also visualised using SPICE (Spacecraft, Planet, Instrument, C-matrix, Events) software by a dedicated team at ESAC in Spain, to help plan image acquisitions.
Did you know this mission has its own AI? You can pose questions to our Hera Space Companion!