ESA title

As part of the world’s first test of asteroid deflection, Hera will perform a detailed post-impact survey of the target asteroid, Dimorphos – the orbiting moonlet of a binary asteroid system known as Didymos. Now that NASA’s DART mission has impacted the moonlet, Hera will turn the grand-scale experiment into a well-understood and repeatable planetary defence technique. Demonstrating new technologies from autonomous navigation around an asteroid to low gravity proximity operations, Hera will be humankind’s first probe to rendezvous with a binary asteroid system and Europe’s flagship Planetary Defender.

Hera Launch: October 2024

Target: Dimorphos

Hera rendezvous: December 2026

Hera
Hera's autonomous surface feature tracking during Mars flyby
Space Safety

Hera asteroid mission tested self-driving technique at Mars

25/03/2025 2622 views 40 likes
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Cartoon Hera made using LEGO® bricks, designed by Frans Snik
Space Safety

Hera’s incredible adventures in brick building

13/03/2025 2015 views 30 likes
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Sir Brian May and the rest of Hera's science team see Mars image arrive
Space Safety

Hera asteroid mission spies Mars’s Deimos moon

13/03/2025 20818 views 132 likes
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Hera swings by Mars
Space Safety

Watch live: Images from Hera’s Mars flyby

10/03/2025 25081 views 115 likes
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Hera fires its thrusters
Enabling & Support

Hera burns towards Mars

08/11/2024 5099 views 65 likes
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CubeSat Deep Space Deployers in Hera spacecraft
Space Safety

Hera asteroid mission’s CubeSat passengers signal home

28/10/2024 4473 views 59 likes
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Hera's first images (Asteroid Framing Camera - Earth)
Space Safety

Hera’s first images offer parting glimpse of Earth and Moon

14/10/2024 14290 views 138 likes
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Members of the Hera operations team on launch day
Space Safety

Hera takes flight: Didymos, here we come

10/10/2024 4413 views 54 likes
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Space Safety

Planetary defence mission Hera heading for deflected astero…

07/10/2024 15468 views 42 likes
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Hera launch animation still
Space Safety

Hera launch: how to watch

04/10/2024 20805 views 92 likes
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Space Safety

Debris from DART impact could reach Earth

06/09/2024 9041 views 50 likes
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Hera departs ESA test centre
Space Safety

Goodbye Hera: asteroid mission departs ESA test centre

02/09/2024 2350 views 19 likes
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Hera glides past Didymos to Dimorphos
Space Safety

Glimpses of Hera’s target asteroids inspire new science

31/07/2024 4037 views 51 likes
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Hera inter-satellite link with Juventas CubeSat
Space Safety

Hera spacecraft trio to fly safe with inter-linked radio

24/07/2024 1837 views 3 likes
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Hera approaching Didymos asteroids
Space Safety

NASA selects US scientists to join ESA’s Hera mission

28/06/2024 1321 views 1 likes
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Hera's control team visits the spacecraft inside its cleanroom
Space Safety

Countdown to Hera: launch campaign begins at ESOC

27/06/2024 2968 views 24 likes
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Hera and CubeSats in Maxwell chamber
Space Safety

Hera and its CubeSats speak with mission control

13/06/2024 2727 views 12 likes
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Hera approaches Dimorphos
Space Safety

Virtual flying lessons for Hera asteroid mission

29/05/2024 3076 views 9 likes
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Hera swings by Mars
Space Safety

Hera asteroid mission’s side-trip to Mars

25/04/2024 4502 views 36 likes
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Juventas CubeSat deployment
Space Safety

Radar journey to centre of Hera’s asteroid with Juventas Cu…

27/03/2024 3470 views 10 likes
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Milani CubeSat deployed from Hera asteroid mission
Space Safety

Shoebox-sized Milani CubeSat joining Hera asteroid mission

14/03/2024 3576 views 19 likes
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Simulation of DART's impact on Dimorphos
Space Safety

DART impact might have reshaped Hera's target asteroid

26/02/2024 5382 views 48 likes
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Space Safety

Milani Patch Contest terms and conditions

13/12/2023 1467 views 1 likes
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Milani patch contest
Space Safety

Design the patch for Hera’s Milani CubeSat

13/12/2023 5259 views 35 likes
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Hera networking with CubeSats
Enabling & Support

CubeSats deployer flight model now integrated to Hera

05/12/2023 1131 views 20 likes
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Hera, her CubeSats, and their rocky target destination
Agency

Small but mighty companies working on ESA’s planetary defen…

29/11/2023 2206 views 37 likes
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Hera inside the LEAF acoustic chamber
Space Safety

Hera asteroid mission hears the noise

10/11/2023 5282 views 55 likes
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Hera's Core Module lowered onto Propulsion Module
Space Safety

Hera asteroid spacecraft assembled

24/08/2023 5741 views 54 likes
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Juventas studies asteroid's internal structure
Space Safety

Hera’s mini-radar will probe asteroid’s heart

10/08/2023 5093 views 65 likes
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Hubble sees boulders escaping from asteroid Dimorphos
Science & Exploration

Hubble sees boulders escaping from asteroid Dimorphos

20/07/2023 10864 views 121 likes
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Dimorphos asteroid seen by DART
Space Safety

Imagine walking on Hera’s asteroid

30/06/2023 4573 views 78 likes
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Hera and its CubeSats at Didymos system
Space Safety

Precision deployer to put Hera’s CubeSats into asteroid orb…

29/06/2023 3448 views 41 likes
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GRASS gravimeter on shaker
Space Safety

Instrument to measure asteroid gravity tested for space

22/05/2023 6253 views 66 likes
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Hera, her CubeSats, and their rocky target destination
Space Safety

What colour is an asteroid? Hyperspectral imager to find out

24/04/2023 3128 views 44 likes
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Science & Exploration

Hubble captures movie of DART asteroid impact debris

01/03/2023 10022 views 76 likes
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Hera, her CubeSats, and their rocky target destination
Space Safety

Eyes on Hera: Asteroid mission’s cameras ready

23/02/2023 7553 views 111 likes
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LICIACube image of asteroid ejecta
Space Safety

First kinetic impact test succeeds in shifting asteroid orb…

12/10/2022 5896 views 55 likes
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DART's moment of impact
Space Safety

Hera team congratulates NASA asteroid impactors

27/09/2022 8710 views 85 likes
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Plume ejects from Dimorphos as DART impacts
Space Safety

ESA to capture light from deflected asteroid’s new plume

26/09/2022 24983 views 79 likes
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DART impacting asteroid
Space Safety

ESA deep space network tracks DART asteroid impact

20/09/2022 14925 views 104 likes
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DART impacting Dimorphos
Space Safety

After NASA’s asteroid impact, ESA’s Hera comes next

01/09/2022 14468 views 101 likes
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Space Safety & Security at ESA
Space Safety

New home for Earth’s protectors

12/04/2022 9871 views 66 likes
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ESA's 4.5m tracking antenna, New Norcia, Western Australia
Enabling & Support

Catching asteroid deflection mission's first words

22/11/2021 13000 views 104 likes
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NASA's DART impacting asteroid
Space Safety

Planetary defenders: after NASA’s DART comes ESA’s Hera

18/11/2021 8033 views 79 likes
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Ariane 6 will use an optional add-on Astris kick stage developed by ArianeGroup to target new missions
Enabling & Support

Ariane 6 targets new missions with Astris kick stage

13/07/2021 10874 views 76 likes
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Milani scans Didymos
Space Safety

CubeSat will sift asteroid secrets from reflected sunshine

30/06/2021 6217 views 53 likes
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Milani studies asteroid dust
Space Safety

CubeSat named for pioneer of European planetary defence

30/06/2021 2905 views 26 likes
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Space Safety
Space Safety

Hang out with Europe’s top space experts

23/06/2021 8502 views 56 likes
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NASA's DART impacting asteroid
Enabling & Support

Sourcing space debris and surveying asteroid smash: challen…

07/06/2021 1776 views 34 likes
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Hera in space
Space Safety

The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission – Presenting …

01/06/2021 5973 views 76 likes
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