Switzerland joins launch of planetary defense mission Hera

The Hera mission to deflect an asteroid has been launched into space. At 4:52 pm Swiss time, the European Space Agency's ESA probe took off aboard the private space company SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, as shown in a live broadcast of the launch. Swiss researchers are also involved in this mission.

ESA Director General Joseph Aschbach called the mission “a step towards planetary defence”. Martin Jutzi of the University of Bern, who was involved in the mission, at launch.

The target was the asteroid Dimorphos, into which NASA crashed a probe two years ago to deflect it as part of the Dart mission (Double Asteroid Redirect Test). Hera is scheduled to fly by Mars in more than two years and arrive at its destination in December 2026.

Hera should examine what exactly Demophos's impact on the asteroid caused. The space probe is scheduled to begin scientific investigations in 26 months.

Impact efficiency

It is already clear that Dimorphos was deviated from its original trajectory by the collision with “Dart”. Observations from Earth show that Dimorphos's 11 hour and 55 minute orbit around Didymos was shortened by about 33 minutes. How efficiently momentum is transferred and what collisions with asteroids cause remain unclear.

“To do this, we first need to know the mass of Dimorphos,” Jutzi explains. Hera is equipped with various cameras and laser- and radar-based measurement systems, some of which are on small satellites called CubeSats. One of them should also land. One of its aims is to investigate the asteroid's weight, the size of its impact crater, and the mineral composition and structure of Dimorphos.

Bern simulation

The University of Bern developed a model to simulate the impact of the detector. According to research published in February, the simulations showed that the boomerang not only created a crater but completely deformed the asteroid.

The researchers now hope to coordinate these simulations with measurements made during the Hera mission. In addition to Jutzi, astrophysicist Sabina Raducan of the University of Bern also participated in the mission.

Asteroids could be devastating

ESA chief Aschbach considers Hera “a very important mission”. It is the first concrete step to protect the Earth from asteroids. It is the first time that humans have inspected the spacecraft created by another artificial Objects caused by asteroids. beat.

Larger asteroids can have devastating effects. An impact about 66 million years ago is thought to be the main cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other creatures. In 2013, an asteroid with a diameter of only 20 meters exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. Approximately 1,500 people were injured by the blast wave, mostly from broken window glass. (Sudanese Development Authority/Department of Political Affairs)

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