The Hera probe will study the double asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos – DW – 10/07/2024
To better protect Earth from future asteroid impacts, the European Space Agency (ESA) is launching the Hera mission: the space probe will arrive two years after the US space agency’s probe was deliberately impacted, and NASA will use the asteroid to look in more detail at the consequences of the impressive experiment. The Hera probe was designed and built in Germany.
Hera is scheduled to begin its two-year flight into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center in the US state of Florida. In general, the mission launch window is open until October 27th.
Following its launch, which could take place as soon as this week, Hera is expected to fly past Mars in 2025 and reach the twin asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos in 2026. The duo consists of the main asteroid Didymos and the smaller satellite asteroid Dimorphos, which orbits Mars. around the first one. On September 26, 2022, NASA’s DART probe made a controlled impact on Dimorphos and successfully changed its trajectory.
Orbit change due to DART influence
According to NASA, the DART impact shortened the asteroid’s orbital period around the Moon by 33 minutes from the original 11 hours and 55 minutes, bringing it closer to Didymos. The Hera space probe, built by a Bremen company, is now set to find out exactly how the shape of the asteroids changed after the impact.
Gera is equipped with twelve measuring instruments, some of which are also made in Germany. Two cameras made in Jena, the birthplace of the German optical industry, should provide images of Didymus and Dimorphus. Germany is also the largest contributor to ESA’s mission.
Preparing for Other Exposures
Data obtained from the mission will be used to calculate how deflection of other celestial bodies can be achieved. Of the billions of asteroids and comets in our solar system, only a few are classified as potentially hazardous to Earth. No consequences are expected in the next 100 years. However, it is likely that some celestial body will collide with Earth again at some point.
The history of space also teaches us this: about 66 million years ago, the Chicxulub asteroid, about ten kilometers in size, collided with what is now Mexico. This caused a permanent winter and likely caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. An impact from an asteroid the size of Dimorphos would only have regional effects. But it will have more power than any atomic bomb, and it will be able to destroy an entire city.
(AFP)