The Hera space mission for planetary defense, which includes Emxis from Elche, launches on October 7.

ELCHE. On the verge of participating in the first European planetary defense mission, which departure next Monday, October 7as planned since last year. This is where the girl from Elche is located. Emxisa company based in the UMH Science Park that has managed to fully develop satellites, but also produces aerospace electronic systems. Like a gravimeter Grasswhich is responsible for measuring gravity and will take advantage of this asteroid rendezvous mission to measure how strongly the asteroid is pulling on the probe and how strong the pull is. The launch will take place from NASA Kennedy Space Center (Florida) — where the historical Saturn 5 rockets launched from — on board the rocket SpaceX Falcon 9Elon Musk’s company.

According to the newspaper, the European Space Agency’s Hera mission (WHAT), is the first mission of the same Planetary Defense program and will explore the double asteroid Didymos the trajectory of which the North American agency was previously responsible for deflecting in September 2022 and on which it landed, leaving now several experiments for the European agency to analyze its status. A mission that represents a fundamental step towards understanding and protecting the planet in the face of possible threats from asteroids heading towards Earth.

Milestone for Emxys

For the Elche company, this mission is undoubtedly a historical milestone, as it represents first deep space mission. The Grass instrument, which they developed jointly with the Royal Observatory of Belgium, is a highly sensitive gravimeter that will be used to characterize the asteroid’s gravitational field, highlighting its “extreme precision,” the company says. This high-tech instrument is capable of measuring the weak gravity of an asteroid “with a complex system of masses that is attracted to it, and can measure gravity 200,000 times less than Earth’s gravity. This is an important milestone in the development of devices of this type.”

In this sense Francisco Garcia de Quirosthe company’s technical director, emphasizes that “the achievement of mechanical accuracy of the order of 1 micron (micrometer, that is, one thousandth of a millimeter) and extraordinary sensitivity in electronics made it possible to implement the device on an unprecedented scale.” size”, which says it opens up new horizons of possibilities for the scientific community for future missions to explore asteroids and other bodies in the solar system.

For my part, Jose Antonio CarrascoCEO of the company, emphasizes that success in design and making grass “This was a quantum leap for Emxys: Hera became our first deep space exploration mission.” This mission not only represents an important milestone for our company, “but also underscores our commitment to innovation in the study of NEOs, that is, near-Earth objects,” he explains. “We are excited to do our part to protect the planet and hope that our advances in technology will help provide valuable data for future missions,” he adds.

Improve asteroid deflection technique

The European mission will not only examine aspects of the study related to the geology and morphological characteristics of the Didymus asteroid, but will also test the asteroid deflection technique. Hera in combination with NASA’s sister mission Dartamounts to cooperation with AIDA (Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment), which represents humanity’s first attempt to alter the orbit of a potentially hazardous asteroid.

Therefore, the European Space Agency’s planetary defense mission is relevant, the company reminds, for several reasons, including because this is the first mission of the European Space Agency. old continent designed to protect the planet from the threat of an asteroid collision and, in addition, because This will be the first time Cubesat satellites will be deployed. (small satellite platforms) on deep space missions. Two will be deployed around Didim for close surveillance. Youth And Milani. One of them, Juventas, will land in Didymos to study its morphological properties, including, among other things, the Elche gravity measuring instrument. The mission, which cost approx. 350 million euros and in which Emxys has been operating since 2016when he sought to win participation.

It will fall ten kilometers away for two days while it rotates. Long fall because Gravity around the asteroid is 3.5 million times weaker than gravity on Earth. Several experiments are planned on the satellite, but it will be connected to the gravimeter during the last stage of the experiments, during the landing phase, when it approaches the asteroid on which Juventas will land. The Emxys instrument is designed to measure how strongly the probe is being pulled by the asteroid and how strong that pull is. ESA will take measurements to study how it was affected by the accident and measure the asteroid’s physical properties. Another of the missions that Hera launches with Juventas, for example, is a radar that can penetrate beneath the surface to find out the layers that make up an asteroid and what rocks are made of it.