The Unbelievable Adventures of the Hera mission – The cosmic roadtrip

Meet Hera, our very personal asteroid detective. Along with two CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an journey to discover Didymos, a double asteroid system that’s typical of the 1000’s that pose an influence danger to planet Earth.

In September 2022 NASA’s DART spacecraft examined if it was doable to divert an asteroid by giving it a shove – and came upon that it was! Vital information, ought to we want to keep away from going the identical manner because the dinosaurs. Astronomers can observe from afar how the smaller asteroid’s orbit has shifted since DART’s influence, however there may be nonetheless a lacking piece of the puzzle if we wish to absolutely perceive how ‘kinetic impacting’ works in follow. Appropriate for youths and adults alike, this episode of ‘The Unbelievable Adventures of Hera’ explains what ESA’s asteroid detective and its CubeSat assistants are doing on their cosmic roadtrip by means of area in direction of the asteroid, and why it includes skimming near Mars.

Watch the opposite episodes of The Unbelievable Adventures of the Hera Mission