Seeing asteroids in the dark

A test of the automated navigation system being developed for ESA's Hera mission. A space-grade camera is imaging a model binary asteroid system in dark conditions representative of deep space illumination.

Hera - named after the Greek goddess of marriage - will be humankind's first probe to rendezvous with a binary asteroid system, a little understood class making up around 15% of all known asteroids.

NASA will first perform a kinetic impact on the smaller of the two Didymos asteroids, then Hera will follow-up with a detailed post-impact survey will turn this grand-scale experiment into a well-understood and repeatable planetary defence technique.

Being able to deflect the orbit of an incoming body in this way could one day help prevent a devastating strike on Earth.

This 'hardware-in-the-loop' testing is being performed by GMV in Spain, responsible for developing the Hera mission's guidance, navigation and control system. To see more, watch GMV's video here.

Research paper

Related Links
Hera mission at ESA
Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology

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One hundred lunar asteroid collisions confirmed by second telescope
Paris (ESA) Apr 15, 2020
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