Author Topic: ESA - Hera updates  (Read 29268 times)

Online Chris Bergin

« Last Edit: 03/24/2024 01:45 pm by gongora »
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Offline Tywin

Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #1 on: 01/07/2019 09:03 pm »
It's a shame that the spacecraft the ESA don't go at the same time that NASA, but still is one of the more important mission in next years...
The knowledge is power...Everything is connected...
The Turtle continues at a steady pace ...

Offline AegeanBlue

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #2 on: 01/07/2019 09:22 pm »
Hera is not primarily known as the goddess of marriage, though indeed she was that. She is primarily known at the queen of the gods, who Zeus cheated on on a regular basis. That part ought to be amended I think, not "goddess of marriage" but "queen of the Olympian Gods"

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #3 on: 01/09/2019 12:16 pm »
« Last Edit: 09/18/2020 02:38 pm by bolun »

Offline SciNews

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #4 on: 02/04/2019 07:00 am »
ESA plans mission to smallest asteroid ever visited
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Hera/ESA_plans_mission_to_smallest_asteroid_ever_visited
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ESA’s planet-defending Hera mission will set a new record in space. The asteroid investigator will not only be the first spacecraft to explore a binary asteroid system – the Didymos pair – but the smaller of these two worldlets, comparable in size to Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza, will become the smallest asteroid ever visited.

Hera is currently under study to be presented for approval by ESA’s Space19+ Council meeting of European space ministers. It is planned for launch in 2023.

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #5 on: 02/25/2019 12:20 pm »
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Hera/Close_encounters_planning_for_extra_Hera_flyby

Close encounters: planning for extra Hera flyby

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ESA’s proposed Hera mission will already visit two asteroids: the Didymos binary pair. The Hera team hopes to boost that number by performing a flyby of another asteroid during the mission’s three-year flight.

The opportunity arises because Hera will be flying out to match Didymos’ 770-day orbit, which circles from less than 10 million km from Earth to out beyond Mars, at more than double Earth’s distance from the Sun.

In the process Hera will pass both multiple near-Earth asteroids and the inner edge of the main Asteroid Belt. Initial studies at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre have turned up dozens of candidate asteroids across different mission scenarios.

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #6 on: 03/18/2019 03:53 pm »
https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Space_Safety_Security/Hera/ESA_s_Hera_asteroid_mission_borrows_eyes_of_NASA_s_Dawn

ESA's Hera asteroid mission borrows eyes of NASA's Dawn

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The mission to the smallest asteroid ever explored will employ the same main camera as the mission to the largest asteroids of all. ESA’s proposed Hera spacecraft to the Didymos asteroid pair has inherited its main imager from NASA’s Dawn mission to the Vesta and Ceres asteroids.

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... the Asteroid Framing Camera (AFC) Hera will use to navigate through space and survey its targeted double asteroids is already built and ready. Two of these cameras – Hera will carry a pair, for redundancy – are sitting in protective nitrogen gas inside a clean room in Göttingen, Germany.

Image credit: DLR

Offline jacqmans

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #7 on: 06/23/2020 02:28 pm »
Name given to asteroid target of ESA’s planetary defence mission

23/06/2020

The destination of ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence – a tiny asteroid moonlet – has finally received its official name. After years of informal nicknames and temporary designations, the smaller of the Didymos asteroid pair has been formally christened ‘Dimorphos’ by the International Astronomical Union.

A near-Earth binary asteroid system, named after the Greek word for ‘twin’, Didymos’s main body measures about 780 m across, with its previously nameless moonlet about 160 m in diameter, approximately the size of Egypt’s Great Pyramid.

http://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Hera/Name_given_to_asteroid_target_of_ESA_s_planetary_defence_mission
Jacques :-)

Offline jacqmans

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #8 on: 06/23/2020 02:29 pm »
Using its laser altimeter Hera scans Didymoon's surface. ESA’s Hera mission concept, currently under study, would be humanity’s first mission to a binary asteroid: the 780 m-diameter Didymos is accompanied by a 160 m-diameter secondary body.
Jacques :-)

Offline jacqmans

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #9 on: 06/24/2020 02:43 pm »
ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence seen approaching the Dimorphos asteroid moonlet, which is destined to become the subject of an audacious deflection experiment.

The newly-named Dimorphos – at 160 m across, about the size of Egypt’s Great Pyramid – orbits around the main 780 m mountain-sized Didymos near-Earth asteroid. Next year NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will leave Earth and in October 2022 will perform a kinetic impact with Dimorphos, in an attempt to deflect its orbit.

Then in 2024 ESA’s Hera spacecraft will set off to perform a close-up investigation of the result: the sole object in the Solar System to have had its orbit shifted by humankind in a measurable way.

By gathering details of Dimorphos’s mass, composition and the crater left by DART, Hera – along with the two CubeSats it will carry with up, for close-up views – will let researchers assess the effectiveness of the deflection technique in as full a manner as possible, enabling its reuse if needed against an oncoming asteroid.

Hera will also return plentiful bonus science, with its Juventas CubeSat performing the first radar survey of an asteroid’s interior, demonstrate inter-satellite link technology in deep space and provide experience of ultra-low gravity operations.

Given the go ahead at ESA’s Space19+ Ministerial Council last November, Hera is set to undergo its preliminary design review in the autumn.
Jacques :-)

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #10 on: 09/18/2020 02:36 pm »
Industry starts work on Europe’s Hera planetary defence mission

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Today ESA awarded a €129.4 million contract covering the detailed design, manufacturing and testing of Hera, the Agency’s first mission for planetary defence. This ambitious mission will be Europe’s contribution to an international asteroid deflection effort, set to perform sustained exploration of a double asteroid system.

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The contract was signed today by Franco Ongaro, ESA Director of Technology, Engineering and Quality, and Marco Fuchs, CEO of Germany space company OHB, prime contractor of the Hera consortium. The signing took place at ESA’s ESOC centre in Germany, which will serve as mission control for the 2024-launched Hera.

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #11 on: 12/02/2020 03:18 pm »
Avio on the front line of the ESA Hera mission for planetary defence from asteroids

Rome, 1 December 2020 - Avio S.p.A. announces it has secured its role as Subcontractor of OHB System AG within the frame of the European Space Agency (ESA) “Hera” project, a “planetary defence” system.

Hera mission foresees the launch of a dedicated satellite in 2024 and will be carried out in synergy with NASA's Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) mission. Hera and DART aim to the exploration and modification of the trajectory of a dual system of asteroids (Dydimos). In this context, Avio is part of a consortium of European companies led by OHB System AG and is responsible for the satellite bi-propellant chemical propulsion system. Avio has extensive and consolidated experience in satellite propulsion, with bi-propellant, mono-propellant and cold gas thrusters systems. In fact, many satellite programs have been equipped over the years with Avio's propulsion modules, such as Sicral, Artemis, XMM; Italsat 1-2, Sax, Tethered, Eurca, Olympus, Sicral 1B, SmallGEO, and EDRS-C.

https://www.avio.com/press-release/avio-front-line-esa-hera-mission-planetary-defence-asteroids

Offline jacqmans

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #12 on: 12/11/2020 09:28 am »
Ireland helping ESA’s Hera asteroid mission find its way

11/12/2020

The very first sensor to be used by ESA’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence is currently being manufactured in Ireland. A gyroscope unit manufactured by Dublin-based InnaLabs will track the spacecraft’s spin rate as it tumbles away from its Ariane 6 launcher following its 2024 liftoff, allowing it to safely orient its solar panels to the Sun and come to life.

Then, when Hera reaches the double-asteroid Didymos system, the gyro unit will give backup orientation information from the spacecraft’s main startracker system, whose optical view may be impacted by sun glare or asteroid dust.

The gyro will also ensure the spacecraft will speedily recover from any malfunction, switching into a steadily positioned ‘safe mode’ from which ground controllers can bring it back to full operation.

“This 3-axis gyro unit including electronics and shielding is only 1.5 kg in mass, but is really crucial to the mission,” explains Steeve Kowaltschek, Head of ESA’s Attitude and Orbit Control and Guidance Navigation and Control Sensors unit.

“ESA has been working with InnaLabs on its design and testing for the last three and a half years, using commercial off the shelf parts but qualified individually and collectively to space standards.”

With no up or down in space, gyros are used aboard many space missions. In function, they resemble the fast-spinning gyroscopes traditionally employed aboard submarines, aircraft, and missiles, whose spin maintains a fixed orientation, just like a child’s spinning top.

But modern solid-state gyros do without moving parts, instead relying on electrically-excited vibration of a solid cylindrical element whose pitch changes as its orientation does: rub a wineglass to make it ‘sing’ and its tone will change if you tilt it.

Chances are you own many such solid-state gyros without knowing it. They allow smartphones to detect whether they are being tilted or shaken, keep drones flying steadily and guide automobile anti-skid systems. Gyros for space follow the same principle but must be designed to endure harsh orbital conditions, including radiation exposure and temperature extremes – as well as the vibration of launch.

“There are a range of gyro units available of different size and precision, ranging from less-accurate sugar-cube-sized gyros up to highly-precise fibre optic gyros which determine movement based on shifting light frequencies,” adds Steeve. ESA is seeking to make a dual source of European procurement available for each performance grade.

“What we noticed is a gap in the market for medium-range gyros with ‘good enough’ performance. As a consequence, some missions’ attitude and orbit control subsystems were doing without gyros altogether. The introduction of a ‘NewSpace’ gyroscope, using ‘up-screened’ commercial-off-the-shelf components, could reverse this trend.

“That led us to InnaLabs, a 2012-founded company specialising in inertial sensors and stabilisation systems for high-performance applications including aircraft, tracking systems and underwater remotely operated vehicles.

“It took a few years to converge with InnaLabs on the type of product to be developed. Our first visit to InnaLabs made a dramatic impression. We were expecting to see a few offices, labs, and prototypes. However, we were pleasantly surprised to learn about their advanced in-house manufacturing and testing capability, and large team of experts. The company also had already supplied gyros to one commercial satellite constellation, so were familiar with space requirements.”

ESA partnered with the company on two projects: one to develop a space-qualified gyro for Hera and commercial customers based on standard parts, supported through the Agency’s General Support Technology Programe (GSTP link)– readying profitable products for space and commercial markets.

The second is a high-end gyro made entirely from space-qualified parts, backed by ESA’s Science Core Technology Programme (CTP), which readies critical enabling technologies for future scientific missions. Intended for manufacture in lower volume, this unit is earmarked for ESA’s PLATO space telescope for exoplanet detection and the Copernicus Land Surface Temperature Monitoring mission.

“The main area where we have been supporting InnaLabs is in the area of radiation hardening,” adds Steeve, “Space is awash in charged particles, and the units are tested for radiation exposure, to ensure they are proof against reset, disruption or false data – which could lead to mission failure in turn.”

Alberto Torasso, Vice President of Space Programmes with InnaLabs, comments: “InnaLabs has extensive knowledge with inertial sensors such as gyroscopes, accelerometers, and system developments for various market sectors. With ESA’s continuous support, we are now developing a number of products designed specifically for space applications, which is getting excellent traction globally. space has become one of the key marketss for InnaLabs, and we are extremely happy to be associated with such important missions as Hera.”

https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Hera/Ireland_helping_ESA_s_Hera_asteroid_mission_find_its_way
Jacques :-)

Offline jacqmans

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #13 on: 04/14/2021 09:59 am »
Drone test of Hera mission's asteroid radar

14/04/2021

This drone hauled a model of the Juventas CubeSat high into the air, as a practical test of the antennas designed to perform the first radar sounding of the interior of an asteroid.

The shoebox-sized Juventas will be transported to the Didymos double-asteroid system by ESA’s Hera mission. Once it flies freely in space, Juventas will deploy a cross antenna to perform a low-frequency radar scan up to 100 m deep within the smaller of the two asteroids, Dimorphos. Such low frequencies result in long wavelengths of around 6 m, too long for most indoor measurement facilities.

“To verify the antenna characteristics, we performed this aerial test with the support of the Hexapilots drone company,” notes Martin Laabs of the Chair for Radio Frequency and Photonics Engineering of Technical University Dresden in Germany.

“For the most accurate measurements of the antennas’ radiation properties, they had to be as far away as possible from other objects, so the Juventas model was hung 10 m down from the drone, which was flown up to 50 m into the sky.”

The testing allowed them to assess the amount of radiated power of the antennas compared to radio frequency modelling, and also to assess at which altitude interference from ground reflections would cut out.

TU Dresden is working on the antenna placement, amplification and performance simulation for Juventas’s radar instrument, while Astronika in Poland is constructing the antennas and EmTroniX in Luxembourg is developing the signal generation system. The overall Juventas mission is being led for ESA by GomSpace.

Juventas's radar instrument, or JURA, is scientifically and technically overseen by Alain Hérique of France’s Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG) at the Université Grenoble Alpes and Dirk Plettemeier of TU Dresden.
« Last Edit: 04/14/2021 10:00 am by jacqmans »
Jacques :-)

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #14 on: 03/11/2022 06:41 pm »
Backbone of Hera asteroid mission

In a Swiss cleanroom, this historic object has been taking shape. Made of carbon fibre reinforced polymer, this is the central core of ESA’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence.

NASA’s DART spacecraft is currently on its way to the Didymos asteroid pair in deep space, to test the kinetic impact technique of asteroid deflection on the smaller of the two bodies on 26 September this year.

Hera will fly to the same asteroid system in the aftermath of the impact to perform a close-up ‘crime scene investigation’, including close-up mapping of DART’s crater and assessing the asteroid’s make-up and internal structure.

The stiff, strong core serves as a backbone to the spacecraft, built for ESA by a team from RUAG Space in Switzerland and OHB in the Czech Republic. Once current ‘static load’ testing confirms its performance, the core will be shipped to OHB in Germany to assemble the spacecraft’s primary structure around it.

It will then be passed on to Avio in Italy to integrate its propulsion module. The bottom aluminum cone includes the Launcher Interface Ring, providing all necessary connections with the launcher.

Hera is scheduled for launch in October 2024, due to reach the Didymos asteroids in December 2026.

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2022/03/Backbone_of_Hera_asteroid_mission

Image credit: RUAG Space

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #15 on: 06/15/2022 03:13 pm »
Hera asteroid mission’s first step

A key element of ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence has left the facilities of its manufacturer OHB in Bremen – a major step in preparation for its eventual odyssey to the Didymos asteroid system.

The mission’s Propulsion Module flight model, seen here, has been delivered to Avio, southeast of Rome, where propellant tanks, thrusters and associated pipes and valves will be integrated with it. The fully equipped Propulsion Module is what will take Hera on its 26-month trek through deep space to the main Didymos asteroid and its smaller Dimorphos companion.

On 26 September this year Dimorphos will become the very first Solar System body to have its orbit altered by human action in a measurable way, when NASA’s DART spacecraft impacts with it. When Hera arrives at the asteroid in December 2026 the spacecraft will perform a detailed post-crash investigation, assessing the mass and make-up of Dimorphos and measuring the crater left by DART’s impact, helping to validate kinetic impact as a workable planetary defence method.

Meanwhile Hera’s other half, the Core Module, is also taking shape at OHB in Bremen. The Core Module will carry all the mission’s scientific instruments as well as on-board computer and other subsystems. The spacecraft will be completed when these two halves are eventually joined together, ahead of Hera’s planned launch in October 2024.

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2022/06/Hera_asteroid_mission_s_first_step

Image credit: OHB

Online Targeteer

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #16 on: 12/29/2022 07:28 am »
https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera

This is the antenna that will transmit back the first close-up images of the distant Dimorphos asteroid since its orbit was shifted by a collision with NASA’s DART spacecraft.

The 1.13-m diameter High Gain Antenna of ESA’s Hera mission went through a week-long test campaign at the Compact Antenna Test Range, part of the Agency’s ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands.

The CATR’s metal walls isolate external radio signals while its foam-spike-lined interior absorbs radio signals to prevent reflections and reproduce the empty void of space. Each test session took more than 10 hours at a time, with the antenna rotated a degree at a time to build up a 360 degree picture of the antenna’s detailed signal shape.

“The High Gain Antenna is really a crucial part of our mission – it will be our sole means of receiving data and sending commands with the volume we need, with the Low Gain Antenna as backup for low data rate emergency communications” explains Hera antenna engineer Victoria Iza.

Hera system engineer Paolo Concari adds: “Coupled with an innovative deep-space transponder, this antenna will also perform science in its own right. Doppler shifting in its signals due to slight shifts in Hera’s velocity as the spacecraft orbits Dimorphos will be used to derive the mass and shape of the asteroid. But for this radio science experiment to work well, the antenna signal will need to remain stable over time, which means the antenna itself has to maintain its geometrical shape very precisely.”

The High Gain Antenna was manufactured by HPS in Germany and Romania. The company was checking that the antenna’s CATR test performance met mission requirements, comparing the results to simulated radio frequency data.

“The antenna reflector is made of carbon fibre, which makes it very stable and resistant to temperature extremes and general environmental stresses,” comments Fulvio Triberti from HPS. “With a total mass of just 7.5 kg, it is a scaled up version of a smaller model produced for ESA’s Euclid observatory, which will operate 1.5 million km from Earth. But Hera’s antenna will need to cover much greater distances still than Euclid, transmitting and receiving across as far as over 400 million km.”

Located on the exterior of the spacecraft, the High Gain Antenna is especially susceptible to accelerations during launch and the high and low temperatures experienced in space – for added protection against the latter, the antenna will be flown covered in a Kapton-Germanium sunshield that provides thermal isolation while radio waves can still pass through it.

So, as a next step, the antenna will undergo vibration testing at IABG in Germany, to reproduce launch stresses, followed by ‘thermal vacuum’ testing at AAC in Austria, to simulate temperature extremes. Then the antenna will return to the CATR next spring, in order to check that this environmental testing did nothing to degrade its radio-frequency performance.

Antenna engineer Ines Barbary led the CATR test campaign: “The challenge for us has been the very high gain of the antenna, and also its tightly focused directivity – it is a very narrowly focused beam with low side lobes. Our test signals cross less than 2 m from our antenna to the High Gain Antenna within the chamber but our specialist software can transform the signals as if they are travelling across vast distances.”

The High Gain Antenna boosts its signal more than 4000-fold to reach Earth, focused down to only half a degree, so that the entire spacecraft will move in order to line up with its homeworld.

“It’s a fantastic feeling to see flight hardware take shape like this,” concludes Paolo. “And all involved did a great job in making it happen on time, to meet our launch schedule in October 2024.”
« Last Edit: 12/29/2022 07:31 am by Targeteer »
Best quote heard during an inspection, "I was unaware that I was the only one who was aware."

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #17 on: 01/29/2023 12:03 pm »
https://twitter.com/deepbluedot/status/1619617226583318531

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T-8 days to completion of the #HeraMission propulsion module, @Avio_Group working around the clock to deliver 💪🏼 looking forward to testing 🎛️

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #18 on: 05/23/2023 07:07 am »
https://twitter.com/esa_tech/status/1660591274930339840

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The first instrument to measure gravity on the surface of an asteroid undergoes shaker testing at #ESATech’s Mechanical Systems Lab. The GRASS gravimeter will land on the #Dimorphos #asteroid on the Juventas #CubeSat, itself deployed by @ESA’s #HeraMission https://esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Instrument_to_measure_asteroid_gravity_tested_for_space

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The L-shaped GRASS gravimeter, the size of two smartphones stuck together, is designed to measure a gravity level of less than a millionth of Earth’s own. The Gravimeter for Small Solar System Objects has been developed by @ORB_KSB 🇧🇪 with @emxys 🇪🇸 https://esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Instrument_to_measure_asteroid_gravity_tested_for_space

https://twitter.com/esa_tech/status/1660591282329092096

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GRASS is designed to measure such miniscule gravity levels as the #Dimorphos asteroid #HeraMission will deliver it to is the smallest planetary object ever to be visited by spacecraft. At 160 m in diameter it is about the same size as #Rome’s #Colosseum https://esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Instrument_to_measure_asteroid_gravity_tested_for_space

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The #Dimorphos #asteroid became famous last year when it was impacted by NASA’s #DARTMission, shifting its orbit. @ESA’s #HeraMission will gather close-up data to better model the physics of kinetic impact for #PlanetaryDefense (pic from @LICIACube) https://esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Instrument_to_measure_asteroid_gravity_tested_for_space

https://twitter.com/esa_tech/status/1660591289627299843

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Once by #Dimorphos, #HeraMission will deploy the #Juventas & #Milani CubeSats. @GomSpaceGroup's Juventas is equipped with a mini-radar while #Milani will perform mineral prospecting. Juventas will fall to to the #asteroid, at which point GRASS begins work https://esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Instrument_to_measure_asteroid_gravity_tested_for_space

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The GRASS gravimeter also underwent trial by vacuum. Its week-long thermal vacuum testing inside this chamber included temperature shifts from minus to plus 35 degrees C. Next the gravimeter will be placed in the Juventas CubeSat at @GomSpaceGroup in 🇱🇺 https://esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Instrument_to_measure_asteroid_gravity_tested_for_space

https://twitter.com/esa_tech/status/1660591296686309376

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The GRASS-carrying Juventas #CubeSat will then end up aboard @ESA's #HeraMission, due to launch in October 2024. Hera & its 2 CubeSats will perform a close-up survey of #Dimorphos, the only asteroid to have had its orbit shifted by human action


Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: ESA - Hera updates
« Reply #19 on: 05/27/2023 05:00 am »
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Our 🎁 just arrived in its new home!!!

https://twitter.com/deepbluedot/status/1662215766840840193

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Literally an historic moment for the #HeraMission, planetary defense and  deep-space exploration! Contract signed in Sept 2020 just before the pandemic and here we are… so proud of this team! So so proud 🚀

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