SPACEFLIGHT
EUROPE ASSEMBLES THE HERA SPACECRAFT TO EYE THE DART ASTEROID CRASH
WORDS ANDREW JONES
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera spacecraft is now assembled ahead of its journey to analyse the asteroid smashed by NASA’s DART mission. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impacted Dimorphos, the smaller companion of the asteroid Didymos, in September 2022, creating debris and altering the space rock’s orbit. The ESA is now preparing its contribution to the DART international planetary defence experiment, Hera, which will follow up on the aftermath. The two modules of the spacecraft were recently mated at the facilities of technology company OHB in Bremen, Germany, in a three-hour process. “Previously we had these two modules; now you can say the spacecraft has been born,” said Hera system engineer Paolo Martino. “Next we will be adding some payload units to the spacecraft’s top deck, which we are receiving directly from the manufacturers once Hera moves to its next stop.”