The European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launched the HERA spacecraft on October 7, 2024, using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The HERA mission will assess the consequences of NASA's DART probe, which in 2022 impacted and reduced the orbit of Dimorphos, the moon of the larger asteroid Didymos, by 32 minutes. Onboard the HERA probe is the Milani CubeSat, developed by Tyvak International, which will study the surface composition and map the spectral characteristics of Dimorphos.
CIRA was present at the launch with personnel from the Space Qualification Laboratory, which oversaw the full qualification campaign of the Milani CubeSat. The campaign, conducted on behalf of Tyvak International (the European subsidiary of Terran Orbital), began with tests on the IANUS thermal thruster, developed by Technology for Propulsion and Innovation (T4i). It continued with the Structural and Thermal Model (STIM) tests and concluded with the Proto Flight Model (PFM) tests. This final version is now onboard HERA, en route to Dimorphos, where it is expected to arrive in 2026.
The HERA mission is part of ESA's planetary defense program. It aims to enhance techniques for deflecting potentially dangerous celestial objects. CIRA is proud to be part of this technical success!