ESA's Hera spacecraft is currently headed toward the aftermath of NASA's DART asteroid-deflection test. But first, it'll stop by Mars to study the Martian moon Deimos.

The European Space Agency's Hera mission flew by Mars and its lesser-known moon Deimos on March 12, 2025, for a critical gravity assist for its journey. Credit: ESA ...

Europe's HERA mission has taken a good look at Mars and its moon Deimos on its way to explore the aftermath of the DART impact in the Didymos–Dimorphos asteroid system.

ESA's Hera mission flying by Mars. See views captured with its Asteroid Framing Cameras. Credit; ESA - European Space Agency Music: A New Beginning by Bruce Brus / courtesy of Epidemic Sound ...

Together, these burns have put Hera on a trajectory that will enable a gravity assist at Mars in March 2025. "Deep-space maneuvers are often split into parts," explains Sylvain Lodiot, Hera ...

When Hera arrives at Mars, it will use the gravity of the planet to push it toward its target, Dimorphos, which is the smaller partner of the Didymos asteroid and where it will arrive in late 2026.

During a flyby of Mars on Wednesday (March 12), ESA's Hera spacecraft inaugurated use of its science instruments to image the smaller of the planet's two moons, Deimos.

Hera came as near as 5000 kilometres to the surface of Mars, receiving a gravity boost that will fling it onwards to Dimorphos. The manoeuvre shortened its journey time by many months and saved it ...

An asteroid-chasing spacecraft just swung past Mars on Wednesday. As it zipped by, it took hundreds of shots of the Red Planet, as well as several snaps of Deimos, one of the two small Martian moons.

A new simulated mission to Mars has begun! Four volunteers stepped inside the tiny HERA habitat yesterday to live & work like astronauts for 45 days. The crew will help @NASA study how isolation ...

NASA has selected four new volunteers to participate in a 45-day simulation of life on Mars, known as the HERA project. The mission, which will begin on November 1, will involve the crew ...