Planetary defense mission to learn how to deflect asteroids

The European Space Agency (ESA) has a lot at stake this Monday. Fortunately, everything worked out fine. The Hera planetary defense mission launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center.located at Cape Canaveral (Florida, USA) at 16:52 Spanish Peninsula time. If all goes according to plan, the ship will reach its destination in two years: the Didymos asteroid system. And there he will begin an investigation to find out what we can do to deflect these rocks as one of them heads towards Earth.

The idea is simple. Our planet lives in a very active “cosmic neighborhood” that is home to more than 35,000 known asteroids that scientists keep a close eye on. “This is what worries us because, in fact, one day there will be one whose orbit will collide with the orbit of the Earth. This doesn’t happen often, but it can happen, and we want to be prepared for it. The sign is that there are several craters on Earth from previous impacts,” Michael Kuppers, a project scientist on the project, said at a press conference.

The best example is the Chicxulub crater, located on the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), which has a diameter of 180 km. This was the trace left by the meteorite that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. But lately we have had some concerns. We now know that on April 13, 2029, the asteroid Apophis, with a diameter of about 375 meters and a mass of about 20 million tons, will pass within 32,000 kilometers of the Earth’s surface, a distance less than that of telecommunications satellites in geostationary orbit. But when it was discovered in 2004, Scientists estimate that there is a small chance that it will hit our planet in 2029, 2036 or 2068.

The threat is real. And when it comes, you must know how to act. That’s where Hera comes from. “Are first generation capable of deflecting an asteroid that is about to reach Earth. But to do this we need to follow three steps. The first is to know the danger and be able to detect these objects. The second is to study their trajectories to see if they are going to collide with us. And the third is to find a way to distract them,” Kuppers said.

DART mission result

In 2022, a space probe NASA’s DART collided with the asteroid Dimorphos, slightly altering its orbit around Didymo.s, another even larger asteroid. It was something historic because it showed that we could actually distract them. But now Hera’s role is to go to Dimorphos to conduct detailed post-impact research and understand exactly how we did it and how we could repeat it.

“The latest images we have are from two seconds before the crash. The DART mission was a success, but we want to know exactly how effective it was. And this is a unique opportunity to do this because we know all the data about the impact: the size of the bodies, the speed… This is information that we do not have in any of the other craters in the Solar System. In this way we can improve the models and. understand the physics of the collision so that you can extrapolate the results into the future and avoid disaster“Kuppers explained.

The first thing Hera will do upon arrival is examine the shape and mass of the asteroids. Then two CubeSats, 10cm nanosatellites that move automatically by calculating their own trajectory and orientation, will come into play and will explore the interior of asteroids using radar for the first time. And to complete the mission, Three satellites (two CubeSats and a Hera) will eventually land on Dimorphos or Didymos. It’s an open end because ESA scientists haven’t yet decided which one they’ll land on. In any case, this will end its useful life.

18 ESA member countries are participating in the project.besides Japan. And it has a Spanish stamp on it. “One of the CubeSats carries the Dimorphos gravity instrument, which is Spanish. And some of the onboard software is from GMV, a company that specializes in calculating trajectories, flight control systems and ship orientation,” said Ignacio Tanco, a Basque engineer who is the mission’s flight director and was responsible for checking the readiness of all parts of the ship during takeoff.

The initial idea is that the mission will last six months, although if all goes well (and there is enough fuel) it is possible it could be longer. The total investment amounts to 363 million euros. “Humanity has the ability to deflect asteroids. The question is the size. To create the same as the dinosaurs will require Herculean efforts and great technological development. Dimorphs have a diameter of 150 meters, and with such dimensions they can already cause problems. .But the dinosaur was about 10 kilometers in diameter. There are no such large ones near the Earth, so we have time to prepare.“Kuppers illustrated.

Dimorphos, the smaller of the two, may have been one of the so-called city ​​killer. That is, an object big enough to wipe a city like Madrid off the map. As a result of the collision of both asteroids, a series of fragments were formed that flew through space… And in a few years or decades they could reach the Earth. Küppers himself confirmed this, although he assured that the particles, if they arrived on our planet, would be very small, about a millimeter in size. So in this sense there is no danger.

Doubts about launch

The launch was fraught with great uncertainty for two reasons. First, due to the proximity of Hurricane Milton, which is approaching the Florida coast and intensifying at full speed. And secondly, because the SpaceX Falcon 9 was used for takeoff. And that’s what Elon Musk’s company discovered anomalies in the rocket. and they needed to prepare a report and submit it to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to get the green light for the mission.

Last week, at a press conference offered by Spanish media, Tanco admitted that there is a “very high risk” that take-off will be delayed and will not take place this Monday the 7th.as planned. Although he noted that, most likely, there will be no problems with finding a day in the launch window, which closes on October 27. Finally, ESA was able to do it on the first try. And in doing so, it saved a lot of headaches as the mission’s next launch window opens in October 2026.