On Monday, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched a probe at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida as part of a test that aims to help save Earth from possible asteroid impacts. Named after the Greek goddess of marriage, ESA’s Hera probe is supposed to investigate the intentional impact of NASA’s DART spacecraft two years ago on an asteroid named Dimorphos. Researchers hope that the mission will provide valuable insights that could help protect the Earth from asteroid impacts in the future.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher called the mission “a step towards planetary defense”.
Scientists currently do not see any asteroid that could hit the Earth with fatal consequences in the next three generations, but Aschbacher says that Hera is on an important mission.
“For the first time in human history, we have the opportunity to defend the planet,” said Rolf Densing, director of ESA’s control center in Darmstadt, Germany.
Passing by Mars on its way, Hera should reach D imorphos, a smaller binary asteroid system, in December 2026.
The probe is operated from a control center in Darmstadt, and is equipped with several cameras, as well as laser and radar-based measurement systems to get an insight into the appearance of the 150-meter-long asteroid after NASA’s impact.
Hera also needs to determine the extent to which Dimorphos was thrown off course by the collision, with the hope that such impacts could be used in the future to deflect asteroids heading toward Earth.