Hera, the Greek mythological goddess of marriage, also associated with the sky and the stars, is the name of the first planetary defense mission of the European Space Agency, ESA. It marks his contribution to a joint experiment with NASA looking for ways to divert asteroids from their orbit so they do not collide with Earth. Hera It is a satellite that will study Dimorfo, the moon of a larger celestial body, whose trajectory was changed in 2022 by launching the DART probe, a NASA ship, against it. It is the first object in the solar system whose orbit has been intentionally altered by humans. This Thursday, during his state visit to the Netherlands, King Felipe VI plans to visit the ESA European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC), where he will be able to see the probe. Hera.
Dimorfo will be located about 195 million kilometers from our planet by the time it arrives Hera, which is scheduled to launch on October 7 from Cape Canaveral (Florida). “The dinosaurs could have been saved from the impact of the meteorite that caused a cataclysm and their disappearance with a mission like this,” says Franco Pérez Lissi, 34, a Spanish engineering systems engineer. THIS C. Located in the Dutch town of Noordwijk, its facilities are finalizing the development of Hera, a cube-shaped probe and solar panels with a wingspan of 13 meters when deployed. The ESTEC Satellite Test Center is the largest in Europe, and has facilities to simulate all launch circumstances and the space environment. Among which Hera must pass the figure “separation with the SpaceX Launcher, and the Electromagnetic Compatibility test.”
In 2029, an asteroid called Apophis, about 450 meters tall, will pass near Earth. “It will be less than 36,000 kilometers away, and it has already been ruled out that it could crash. Yes, it can be seen in certain areas, and that is why we have detection systems,” he adds. The team of Hera is already working on a mission called RAMSES that will visit Apophis and that is based on the technology developed for Hera. Two years ago, the DART probe disintegrated when it collided with Dimorfo, which is 177 meters at its longest part. DART, the size of a refrigerator, made a kinetic impact, that is, it transmitted the energy of its relative motion at the moment of the collision to the asteroid in an attempt to vary its trajectory. According to the Spanish engineer, in the past “the possibility of using explosives to destroy the asteroid was studied, but since it has rocks compacted by gravity, it would have distributed them in the form of a cloud instead of varying the trajectory.” It is a worse remedy and that is why it was discarded.
With the help of Hera It will be possible to follow in detail the effect that the impact of the American ship has had in order to repeat the technique of diverting celestial bodies in the future. On the other hand, the collection of data will help to better understand the composition and structure of asteroids, which are rocky objects that orbit the Sun and may also be in the same orbit as the planets. Most, however, are found in the so-called asteroid belt, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Meteorite is the name given to a fragment of a celestial body, such as an asteroid, that survives friction with the atmosphere and falls to Earth.
The main asteroid around which the moon Dimorph revolves is called Didymus, and is 851 meters on its longest side. Together they make up a binary system: a large, main rocky body and a smaller one rotating around it. Pérez Lissi compares his situation to that of the Earth and its satellite, the Moon. “Dimorfo is also trapped in a kind of gravitational corridor and keeps rotating around the main body, like our Moon,” he says. Hera It is scheduled to arrive at the end of 2026, “and we want to know if Dimorfo shares elements with Dídimo because it would give us clues about its origin,” he says. It could also be another asteroid that collided a long time ago “and formed this body trapped by gravity.”
Pérez Lissi is responsible for the design and testing of Youth and Milanitwo space drones installed aboard Hera. The first of the minisatellites carries a low-frequency radar that will send pulses to Dimorfo to see what it is like inside. It will also carry a gravimeter and an accelerometer to measure the mechanical response of the surface and the ultra-low gravity of the body. “We want to know if it has a hard core or if it is just fragments of rock from the main asteroid and compacted by gravity,” he explains. The second drone has a hyperspectral camera that allows you to see at different wavelengths. “It outperforms the naked human eye in checking for organic components on the surface, whether iron or other minerals.” It will take samples of asteroid dust.
On a Spanish press trip, which EL PAÍS joined, the same engineer explained that Hera It will send data from the moment it is launched, because the on-board computer will be running and the radios will be on. “We have to put it on the right trajectory and, if everything goes well, on March 25 we will reach Mars. Towards October 2026 we will arrive at the asteroid.” There will be a braking phase so that Hera acquire the speed of Dimorfo, orbital maneuvers that last for a month. Then the operational part of the mission will begin, which should last 9 months.
With Hera Synchronized with the asteroid's moon, Youth and Milani They will deploy to do their job. “We will take images and try to fly on several occasions very close to the surface with the main ship to obtain details taking advantage of its guidance, navigation and control system, designed by the GMV company in Madrid.” Once the exploration is completed, the probe will be landed on the asteroid in a controlled manner. Hera It is an example of the strength of international collaboration, since more than 80 companies from 17 ESA member countries – including Spain – participate in the mission. The satellite design team will control the mission from the European Space Operations Center (ESOC), based in Darmstadt, Germany. There will be another group at Cape Canaveral, from where it will be launched with a rocket Falcon 9, from the American company SpaceX. “If we couldn't fly in October, the gravitational maneuvers would be longer. We would have to go to Mars, return to Earth and then to the asteroid,” Pérez Lissi warns.
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