Tag: DART
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ESA’s Hera planetary defense mission signs prime contractor, on course for launch in 2024
The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a design, manufacturing, and testing contract with OHB of Germany for their Hera planetary defense mission, marking a major advancement toward the agency’s commitment to NASA for their joint Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment project. NASA’s portion is scheduled to launch in July 2021 and slam into the…
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Earth observation, deep space exploration big winners in new ESA budget
Frédérique Vidal, the French government’s representative and co-chair on the ESA Ministerial Council, ESA director general Jan Wörner, and Manuel Heitor, the Portuguese government’s representative and co-chair on the ESA Ministerial Council. Credit: ESA – S. Corvaja European Space Agency member states on Thursday committed nearly 12.5 billion euros ($13.7 billion) to fund ESA programs…
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Falcon Heavy soars; SpaceX lands critical NASA double asteroid redirect launch
To say 11 April 2019 was a banner day for SpaceX would be an understatement. The private space company that has soared into the public’s imagination and trust not only succeeded in launching its Falcon Heavy rocket – the most powerful currently operational rocket in the world – on its first commercial flight, but also…
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Hera adds objectives to planetary defense test mission
An international planetary defense mission involving NASA and ESA will now include two CubeSats. APEX (Asteroid Prospection Explorer) and Juventas will ride with ESA’s Hera spacecraft, which is set to arrive at the Didymos binary asteroid system shortly after NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirect Test) spacecraft has impacted the smaller of the two objects, Didymoon. Hera will arrive to take observations…
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Future of asteroid deflection mission to be decided soon
Artist’s concept of the European-built AIM spacecraft, along with two proposed deployable CubeSats, observing the collision of NASA’s DART impactor with the moon of asteroid Didymos. Credit: ESA – ScienceOffice.org Decisions on the future of a joint robotic mission between NASA and the European Space Agency to demonstrate the ability to deflect an asteroid on…