Author Topic: ESA - Hera updates  (Read 29085 times)

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #40 on: 06/27/2024 08:00 pm »
Countdown to Hera: launch campaign begins at ESOC

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ESA’s Hera mission is due to launch in October this year on a quest to survey the Didymos binary asteroid system and study the results of the first-ever test of asteroid deflection.

The spacecraft is currently undergoing its final system tests in the Netherlands in preparation for transport to its launch site in the USA. Meanwhile, in Germany, Hera’s Mission Control Team recently began launch preparations of their own.

Image credit: ESA-A. Conigli

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #41 on: 07/07/2024 11:15 am »
NASA selects US scientists to join ESA’s Hera mission

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The science team behind ESA’s Hera asteroid mission is getting bigger. NASA has selected 12 participating scientists to join Europe’s first planetary defence mission, scheduled to launch this October.

The goal of NASA’s Hera Participating Scientist Program is to support scientists at US institutions to participate in the Hera mission and address outstanding questions in planetary defence and near-Earth asteroid science. The participating scientist will become Hera science team members during their five-year tenure with the mission.

Offline Targeteer

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #42 on: 07/11/2024 10:42 am »
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/07/Hera_in_the_doghouse



 Like a pet being put in its kennel, ESA’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence was placed back in its transport container for the latest phase in its test campaign.

The spacecraft is not due to leave the ESTEC Test Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands until the end of August. Instead its container became the venue for Hera’s global leak test, confirming the continued integrity of the spacecraft’s propulsion system following its 10-month long environmental test campaign.

The principle is simple, explains Hera mission manager Ian Carnelli: “Hera’s propulsion tanks are loaded up with gaseous helium at 300 bar, or standard atmospheres. Next place the spacecraft inside its container, adding sensors to check if the interior pressure remains the same over the course of the day-long test.

“Hera’s propulsion system has already undergone one leak test at the premises of Avio in Italy, back before the Propulsion Module was integrated with its Core Module. But since then Hera has undergone testing to replicate the stresses of launch and also operations in the vacuum of space, so we need to check no harm was done in the process.”

For safety reasons the leak test took place inside the Test Centre, Large European Acoustic Facility, LEAF, which has already been the venue for the mission’s acoustic testing, reproducing the violent noise of take-off.

Having passed this latest test, Hera and its accompanying CubeSats continue their functional testing, with launch due in early October.
Best quote heard during an inspection, "I was unaware that I was the only one who was aware."

Offline redliox

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #43 on: 07/13/2024 08:13 pm »
What was the timeline for Hera's mission?  I know there's a launch in October and a Mars fly-by, but hard to find the exact dates.
"Let the trails lead where they may, I will follow."
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Offline aga

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #44 on: 07/14/2024 06:41 am »
from https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/Hera_operations
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Once launched, Hera will begin a two-year cruise phase. An initial deep space manoeuvre in late October 2024 will be followed by a Mars swingby (and Deimos flyby) in March 2025. A second deep space manoeuvre in February 2026 will line Hera up for arrival at the Didymos system. An ‘impulsive rendezvous’ in October 2026 will bring Hera into the vicinity of the asteroid system for orbit insertion.
« Last Edit: 07/14/2024 06:41 am by aga »
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Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #45 on: 09/02/2024 08:05 pm »
Goodbye Hera: asteroid mission departs ESA test centre

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After a year of testing, ESA’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence is about to depart Europe and head towards its launch site in the USA. The Hera team looked on as the crated spacecraft – along with its twin miniature CubeSats and additional equipment – was driven away from ESA’s ESTEC Test Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

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The trio of spacecraft were transported overnight to Cologne airport in Germany, where they will be flown to Cape Canaveral in the USA this evening for launch by Space X Falcon 9 in early October.

Image credit: ESA


Online starbase

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #46 on: 09/03/2024 10:38 am »
bit.ly/SpaceLaunchCalendar ☆ bit.ly/SpaceEventCalendar

Offline jacqmans

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #47 on: 09/06/2024 09:09 am »
Hera leaves Europe
06/09/2024

On 2—3 September 2024, ESA’s Hera asteroid explorer spacecraft was flown from Cologne Bonn Airport, Germany, to the NASA Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida, USA, inside an Antonov AN-124 cargo aircraft. Hera will launch from Cape Canaveral, USA, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in early October 2024.
Jacques :-)

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #48 on: 09/18/2024 08:19 pm »

Offline ddspaceman

Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #49 on: 09/24/2024 05:10 pm »
ESA's Hera mission
@ESA_Hera
📽️#HeraMission, @ESA's first Planetary Defence spacecraft is nearing launch. Hera will probe the lingering mysteries of a unique asteroid - the sole body in our Solar System to have had its orbit shifted by human action https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2024/09/Hera_planetary_defence_mission_solving_asteroid_mysteries

https://twitter.com/ESA_Hera/status/1838532790234513846

Offline ddspaceman

Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #50 on: 09/26/2024 03:24 pm »
ESA's Hera mission
@ESA_Hera
Two years ago today, @NASA’s DART spacecraft slammed into asteroid Dimorphos, changing its orbit around the larger object Didymos in the 1st test of asteroid deflection.

Here’s 3 things we learned from the impact, and 3 remaining mysteries that @ESA’s #HeraMission will help solve!

1) DART confirmed that a spacecraft can change an asteroid’s trajectory by crashing into it. The impact shortened the orbit of Dimorphos around its parent asteroid Didymos by about 32 minutes, demonstrating that kinetic impact is a possible strategy for planetary defence.

2) DART demonstrated that a spacecraft can autonomously track down and steer into an asteroid while too far from Earth to rely on real-time trajectory corrections from its control team back on the ground. Hera will also test new autonomous navigation technology at Dimorphos

3) The effect of the DART impact was greater than expected. The impact sent more debris hurtling into space than anticipated, suggesting that the asteroid’s surface is more porous or fragile. The escaping debris amplified the force of the impact and the change in the asteroid’s motion.

Three mysteries Hera will help solve:

1) Hera will measure the density and composition of Dimorphos in detail and help scientists determine whether it is a ‘rubble pile’ loosely held together by gravity, or a solid core covered in boulders and gravel.

2) Hera will map the crater created by DART’s impact down to 10 cm resolution to help scientists better understand how the surface material responded to the collision. It’s possible that there is no crater at all, rather the impact reshaped the entire asteroid!

3) ~15% of known asteroids are actually binary systems, but their origins remain mysterious. Hera will determine whether Dimorphos and Didymos are made from the same material, which would hint that the rapidly spinning Didymos once threw off debris into space that later formed Dimorphos.

Hera's investigation of Dimorphos and Didymos will complete the story that DART began two years ago and turn asteroid deflection into a well understood and repeatable technique for protecting Earth from a potential asteroid impact. Stay tuned for launch next month! https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera

https://twitter.com/ESA_Hera/status/1839293252752793720

https://twitter.com/ESA_Hera/status/1839293260000383029

https://twitter.com/ESA_Hera/status/1839293268359786558

https://twitter.com/ESA_Hera/status/1839293276240638462


Offline ddspaceman

Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #51 on: 09/26/2024 03:33 pm »
ESA's Hera mission
@ESA_Hera
📽️Spacecraft are among the most complex machines ever created - look inside #HeraMission, @ESA's first planetary defence mission, designed for asteroid exploration in deep space, to see how ESA and European industry put it together https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2024/09/Look_inside_ESA_s_Hera_asteroid_mission

https://twitter.com/ESA_Hera/status/1839299760924274864

Offline jacqmans

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #52 on: 10/01/2024 09:22 am »
Hera Science Team

The starting point for any exploration-focused space mission is the formulation of questions to be asked. The spacecraft that sets forth from Earth is how those questions get to be answered, and the people who set them – and will oversee their solving – are the scientists associated with the mission.

In the case of Hera, ESA’s first planetary defence spacecraft, its science team is notably wide and international in character, indicating the broad interest taken in this mission, inherited in turn from NASA’s DART mission before it, which impacted Hera’s target Dimorphos asteroid in September 2022.

ESA’s Hera project scientist Michael Kueppers therefore liaises not only with Principal Investigator Patrick Michel of France’s CNRS Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur but they preside over an entire Hera Science Management Board, presiding in turn over various working groups focused on different scientific aspects of the mission as well as the leads of the individual instruments.

Accordingly Hera’s Science Team encompasses France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, UK, Czech Republic, Greece, Switzerland and Finland, extending in turn to Japan – contributing Hera’s Thermal Infrared Imager – and the US – with 12 scientists being supported through NASA’s Hera Participating Scientist Program.

https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Hera_Science_Team#msdynmkt_trackingcontext=7f325c7a-1560-4ac0-91cb-9328ced3abfe
Jacques :-)

Offline ugordan

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #53 on: 10/01/2024 10:01 am »
Any talk on ESA's side on how the F9 grounding after Crew-9 will affect the launch date?

Offline ddspaceman

Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #54 on: 10/01/2024 04:19 pm »
ESA's Hera mission
@ESA_Hera
The last time #HeraMission's radar-bearing Juventas CubeSat is seen with human eyes, being loaded aboard its Deep Space Deployer.   The next time it is viewable will be when it is ejected into space around the Didymos binary asteroid, along with Hera's 2nd CubeSat, Milani https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/10/Last_pre-launch_view_of_Hera_CubeSat

https://twitter.com/ESA_Hera/status/1841126131627368586
« Last Edit: 10/01/2024 04:20 pm by ddspaceman »

Online theinternetftw

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #55 on: 10/01/2024 07:58 pm »
Any talk on ESA's side on how the F9 grounding after Crew-9 will affect the launch date?

The launch window is a bit more constrained than Clipper's, ending on October 27th.

Online theinternetftw

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #56 on: 10/02/2024 05:57 pm »
For anyone not following the launch thread, a bit of news:

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At an ESA briefing this morning, Hera project officials say they are proceeding with plans for an Oct. 7 launch on a Falcon 9, including encapsulating the spacecraft in the fairing tomorrow. Getting daily briefings on investigation and "very happy" with progress so far.
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The Hera project manager, Ian Carnelli, also said they would be happy to be the return-to-flight mission for the Falcon 9, and don't require SpaceX to perform a launch before it.

https://x.com/jeff_foust/status/1841459447014531097

Offline flatpf

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #57 on: 10/03/2024 09:53 am »
At the press briefing yesterday the team mentioned that the final cost of Hera came in at €363M/$401M, which is below cost estimates. The freed up €20M went to the development of Ramses.

https://spacenews.com/esa-continues-hera-launch-preparations-amid-falcon-9-grounding/

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #58 on: 10/05/2024 07:27 am »
Last view of Hera spacecraft

A last view of Hera in its launch configuration before being encapsulated within its Falcon 9 launcher fairing, resting atop its launcher adapter. All 'red tag' items have been removed and its solar arrays no longer have protective covers, and the spacecraft is fully wrapped in multi-layer insulation, including across its High Gain Antenna. This image was acquired on 3 October 2024.

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/10/Last_view_of_Hera_spacecraft

Image credit: SpaceX

Offline catdlr

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #59 on: 10/05/2024 07:40 am »
It's Tony De La Rosa, ...I don't create this stuff, I just report it.

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