PARIS (The Thursday Times) — Europe’s Hera spacecraft can now see Dimorphos, the small asteroid that NASA deliberately crashed a probe into in 2022, as it closes in to find out what that collision did.
Hera took the image on October 18 from about 1,280km away from the asteroid and its larger partner, Didymos, the pair then being about 197 million km from Earth.
“With this image, the smaller Dimorphos asteroid becomes visible for the first time,” said Michael Kueppers, the Hera project scientist at the European Space Agency. “Before this acquisition, the spacecraft was still resolving the Didymos system as a single dot.” Dimorphos is only about one pixel in the picture, he said, but it is clearly separate from its parent.
NASA’s DART spacecraft hit Dimorphos in September 2022 and changed its orbit, the first real test of whether humans could push a dangerous asteroid off course. Hera, launched in October 2024, is meant to survey the damage and show exactly how well it worked, which would help planning if a threatening asteroid is ever found.
The probe carried out braking manoeuvres earlier in October to slow its approach. It carries 12 instruments and two small satellites for a closer look, which will eventually attempt a landing on Dimorphos, a rock about 151 metres wide.
Hera is still on its approach, with more to come later this month.
