Part of the first test of asteroid deflection. Launched 7 October 2024 on a mission to the binary asteroid system Didymos. #HeraMission #PlanetaryDefence
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🛰️I'm currently speeding my way thru deep space to the Dimorphos🪨asteroid, the only Solar System body whose orbit has been shifted by human action - when NASA's DART spacecraft💥impacted it - to check what happened to it next! See where I am right now: whereis.space/hera/
ALT The trajectory of the Hera spacecraft relative to the Dimorphos asteroid and the orbits of the inner planets
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Operating across 140 million km of space from ESOC's Interplanetary Control Room (left), ESA’s Hera mission team has upgraded the software running it - leaving the spacecraft ready to explore the distant Dimorphos and Didymos asteroids this autumn esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/De…
ALT Interplanetary Control Room entrance
ALT Hera spacecraft seen from above
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ESA's Hera mission retweeted
Welcome to the Golden Age of 🪨Asteroid Exploration! 10 missions and 1 event every asteroid fan needs to know (number 6 steals the show!)...
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Views of 2 new asteroids! The Hera team congratulates @JAXA_en 's Hayabusa2 for flying by 450-m diameter Torifune (l) and @CNSA_en's Tianwen2 for arriving at tiny 18-m Kamoʻoalewa (r).
Hera reaches Dimorphos this autumn - the 1st asteroid to have been changed by human action!
ALT 98943 Torifune observed by Hayabusa2 from about 800 km away. Credit: JAXA
ALT Tiny 469219 Kamo’oalewa observed by Tianwen-2 from 20 km away. Credit: CNSA
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ESA's Hera mission retweeted
Asteroids regularly slam into Earth, but in 2022 a little bit of Earth slammed into an asteroid - in the shape of NASA's DART spacecraft hitting Dimorphos. This autumn ESA's Hera spacecraft reaches this same body to try and find out: could we save Earth from an incoming asteroid? #AsteroidDay
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ESA's Hera mission retweeted
The European Space Agency has contracted Spanish company @emxys for the first CubeSat designed to operate on an asteroid's surface. It will be deployed by ESA's Ramses mission onto asteroid Apophis as it passes close by Earth on Friday 13 April 2029 esa.int/Space_Safety/Planeta…
ALT Ramses CubeSat approaching asteroid Apophis
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ESA's Hera mission retweeted
Humans changed an🪨asteroid - now we find out how!
Especially for Asteroid Day,🎥watch the full story so far of our Hera mission🛰️, on its way thru deep space to probe the first Solar System body transformed by human action💥: esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Video…
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Want to know about our Hera asteroid mission for🪨Asteroid Day, which is on its way to the 1st asteroid changed by human action? Watch our cartoon series, starting here 👉 esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Video…
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ESA's Hera mission retweeted
Happy #AsteroidDay ! But why today of all days? Find out here, along with eight other key dates in asteroid history! esa.int/Space_Safety/Planeta…
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It's hot outside, and the 1-km-scale asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1 flies by at lunchtime. Why not stay in and follow the Asteroid Day Festival, live from Luxembourg?
Bringing together astronauts, asteroid experts and space mission engineers, the action starts at 10 am: piped.video/watch?v=FacoaTSf…
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ESA's Hera mission retweeted
Asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1 flies past Earth on Saturday – great advertising for this weekend’s Asteroid Day festival! After a Friday evening astronomy session, Saturday's event includes astronauts, asteroid experts and engineers. Watch it live here:
piped.video/watch?v=FacoaTSf…
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The backbone of ESA's Ramses asteroid mission is now standing tall in its Bremen cleanroom. From here on in the mission is being developed in two halves in parallel, to ensure its reaches its spring 2028 launch deadline: esa.int/Space_Safety/Planeta…
ALT Ramses central core in its cleanroom
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ESA's Hera mission retweeted
🪨Asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1, as monitored by ESA's Planetary Defence team, makes a close approach to Earth this Saturday that could be visible with small telescopes 🔭 esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Image…
ALT infographic detailing asteroid close approach
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ESA's Hera mission retweeted
This asteroid is a little… quirky.
Shaped like a five-mile-long peanut 🥜
Wobbles like a top 🌪️
Encountered water, but lost it 💦
Published today, NASA’s Lucy mission reveals close-up imagery and data from its flyby of oddball asteroid Donaldjohanson.
More: go.nasa.gov/3Qx5F3Y
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ESA's Hera mission retweeted
Get up to speed in space with ESA Impact, our online summary of Europe's last three months of space activity: esa.int/About_Us/ESA_Publica…
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Programme now available for next week's International Asteroid Day festival on 26-27 June! Join us at Cercle Cité, Luxembourg, or if you can't make it in person, most talks will be streamed live on the Asteroid Day YouTube channel: asteroidday.org/events-in-lu…
ALT Asteroid Day Festival logo
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ESA's Hera mission retweeted
Asteroid Apophis will fly by Earth on Friday 13 April 2029. People have nothing to worry about, but scientists are excited! A workshop in Padua this week discussed ESA's Ramses mission, which will fly with the asteroid to see what Earth's gravity does to it... ramsesmission.space/workshop…
ALT Ramses workshop participants
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ESA's Hera mission retweeted
6月11日、#COPUOS2026 にてサイドイベント “Planetary Defence in Action: Global Cooperation on #RAMSES”を開催しました！
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At tomorrow's @UNOOSA Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in Vienna, representatives of @JAXA_en, @ASI_spazio and @ESA come together for a breakfast panel to present Hera's sister mission Ramses
ALT Flyer for Ramses breakfast panel
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ESA's Hera mission retweeted
Saturday’s sonic boom heard over Boston was due to an airbursting meteor, as confirmed by US weather satellite GOES-19. A European geostationary weather sat performs a comparable skywatch, read more here: esa.int/Space_Safety/Firebal…
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