Europa participates in planetary defense with the Hera mission
The European Space Agency (ESA) was created for the peaceful exploration of space and pushing the boundaries of knowledge to answer the big questions of the universe. One of them concerns our future as a civilization. Franco Perez, a systems engineer, from ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC), responds to RNE: “We are working on developing methods to deflect dangerous asteroids,” he explains from Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
Hera, European planetary defense project
The European research and technology center ESTEC is immersed in an experiment called Hera, named after the Greek goddess who reigns on Olympus: “The goal is to analyze the composition of the asteroid and collect data on the impact from NASA’s Darth ship,” adds Perez . Hera is the result of the efforts of many European countries and more than eighty companies, including the Spanish GMV or CENER, which provided subsystems or parts of the ship.
Development land protection The goal of this mission is “to know the current and future position of objects close to our planet, such as satellites that may enter the atmosphere, asteroids or other bodies that may pose a hazard, that are potentially dangerous,” Perez lists. But not only because we are also talking about calculation accident probabilityassess what the consequences of possible exposure might be and “have sufficient tools to communicate” about it. As of today, there is no element that puts us at risk.but the study of these bodies is necessary to clarify some of the many unknowns that the Universe holds.
ESTEC explains the importance of keeping the ship in a clean chamber so that no part is contaminated with organic matter from the Earth, so that there is no false positives when looking for life abroad. The Hera mission is already entering its final testing phase and is scheduled to launch on October 7, 2024 from Cape Canaveral in Florida in collaboration with SpaceX. Its first destination is Mars, and then it will head towards the asteroid in question. ESTEC emphasizes the importance of keeping the ship in a clean chamber so that no part is contaminated with organic matter from Earth, so there are no false positives when searching for life outside.
planetary arrangement which is estimated to be important after summer when it comes to launching it beyond the atmosphere. The ESA team has two more weeks and, according to systems engineer Franco Perez, “it will be a success.”
The International Space Station is still cooperating with Roscosmos
From the same American point of view Columbus Space Science Laboratory. Without a doubt, this is Europe’s greatest contribution in this area.
A replica of the Columbus capsule flying several flags at ESA’s ESTEC.
The European Research Center also houses a copy of this capsule, one of 16 modules located in orbit 400 kilometers from us and making up the International Space Station. From here in the Netherlands we look at this with inspiration and admiration, because it marked the beginning of a new era. In this game, the US flag is displayed next to the Russian flag. The International Space Station, unlike ESA, still maintains cooperation with the Russian agency Roscosmos, since the continuation of this project would otherwise be impossible.
This observation center is staffed by scientists and astronauts from 18 countries, the physical cost of which is paid by the body: “The lack of gravity means that those living in this small space must exercise for at least two hours a day to avoid losing a lot of muscle massexplains José Manuel Sánchez Martínez, Strategy and Communications Officer at the European Space Agency.
Europe and the geopolitics of space
Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine European Space Agency was forced terminate existing cooperation between ESA and its Russian counterpart Roscosmos. Collaboration aimed at exploring Mars. These connections have been prominent with autonomous vehicles called Mars roversresponsible for exploring the surface of the Red Planet.
Now that coordination with Russia is not the same as before, the unknown What place does Europe occupy in the geopolitics of space?. Kai-Uwe Schrogl, special adviser on policy issues at the European Space Agency, responds to NPR: “We can be sure that Europe plays an important role. We don’t want to dominate other countries. We are not a military superpower. We use space to improve life on Earth,” says Schrogl.