ESA · orbiter active
Hera
ESA's Hera is arriving at the asteroid pair Didymos and Dimorphos to measure the aftermath of NASA's DART impact.
- Launch
- 7 October 2024
- Distance from Earth today
- 196.9 million km1.316 AU · light: 10 min 57 s
- Distance from the Sun today
- 181.3 million km1.212 AU
Live distance from Earth and chart →
Trajectory
Trajectory: JPL Horizons vectors (spacecraft -91) every 1 days, projected onto the ecliptic; compressed distance scale.
About the mission
Hera is the follow-up to DART: where the American impactor delivered the push, Hera is meant to measure exactly what it did. Launched in October 2024, it flew past Mars in March 2025 and imaged the small moon Deimos on the way. Braking burns began in October 2026 and it is due to arrive at the Didymos system in November 2026, a month earlier than first planned. It will then map the crater left by DART, determine the moonlet's mass and shape, and release two CubeSats, Milani and Juventas, one of which will probe Dimorphos's interior with radar.
Sources
- esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera
- ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND=%27-91%27&OBJ_DATA=%27YES%27&MAKE_EPHEM=%27NO%27
- esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/ESA_s_Hera_targets_early_arrival_at_Didymos_asteroids
- esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Hera_on_course_for_asteroid_rendezvous
- Trajectory: JPL Horizons (public domain)