Latest news with #MichaelKueppers
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Tiniest Mars moon Deimos spotted by Europe's asteroid-chasing spacecraft
Europe's Hera spacecraft flew by Mars this week on its way to catch up with an asteroid and tested out its cameras on the Red Planet's tiniest moon. The European Space Agency's Hera mission was launched in October 2024 to check the homework of Nasa's DART mission. In 2022, DART intentionally smashed into an asteroid named Dimorphos during a planetary defense test. According to NASA, DART's impact changed Dimorphos' orbit around its parent asteroid, Didymos, by 32 minutes. On Wednesday, during a Mars gravity assist, Hera used its trio of instruments to hone in on Mars and one of its small moons – the first object photographed by its cameras beyond Earth. The ESA said Hera took the photographs of Deimos from just 620 miles away, capturing the less-visible side of the tidally-locked moon. Deimos measures just over 7 miles across. Scientists believe Deimos could be a leftover chunk from Mars or a gravitationally captured asteroid, according to the ESA. 'Loss Of Signal:' Nasa Successfully Crashes Dart Spacecraft Into Asteroid For Planetary Defense Test "These instruments have been tried out before, during Hera's departure from Earth, but this is the first time that we have employed them on a small distant moon for which we still lack knowledge – demonstrating their excellent performance in the process," ESA's Hera mission scientist Michael Kueppers said in an ESA blog. However, Hera's target of study is much smaller than the little 7-mile moon of Mars. The binary asteroid pair is measured in feet instead of miles. The spacecraft will visit the asteroid Didymos, which is about 2,500 feet across, and its moonlit Dimorphos, which is about 500 feet across. The Mars flyby set up Hera for a follow-up maneuver in February 2026 and then a December 2026 arrival at article source: Tiniest Mars moon Deimos spotted by Europe's asteroid-chasing spacecraft
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Unprecedented images of mysterious Mars moon captured by space probe
A space probe flying past Mars captured images of the red planet's small, mysterious moon. The space probe, named Hera, was launched on Oct. 7, 2024, and is on a mission to gather close-up data about the Dimorphos asteroid, the European Space Agency said in a news release. The asteroid was the first to have its orbit altered by human action, when it was impacted by NASA's DART spacecraft in 2022. The goal of Hera is to learn more about asteroid deflection so the technique can be refined and used again. While on a flyby of Mars, Hera was able to use three of its imaging instruments to capture images of Deimos, the smaller of Mars' two moons, the ESA said. Deimos is about 15,000 miles from Mars. Scientists have previously speculated that it may actually be a piece of asteroid, not a moon. Hera got as close as 1,000 kilometers, or about 620 miles, to Deimos. It used its various instruments to capture the images, characterize the mineral makeup on the moon and chart surface temperatures. These features combined will help scientists learn more about the lunar body, the ESA said. "These instruments have been tried out before, during Hera's departure from Earth, but this is the first time that we have employed them on a small distant moon for which we still lack knowledge – demonstrating their excellent performance in the process," ESA Hera mission scientist Michael Kueppers said in the news release. The ESA's Mars Express, which has been orbiting the red planet for over 20 years, also contributed observations of the moon. Results from the encounter should help guide operational planning for a mission set to explore Martian moons in 2026, the ESA said. That mission, in conjunction with NASA and French and German space agencies, will collect detailed measurements of Mars' two moons and land on Phobos, the larger lunar body, to collect a sample that can be returned to Earth for analysis. Hera also used the flyby of Mars to adjust its trajectory through deep space. That maneuver shortened Hera's travel time to Dimorphos, the ESA said. Hera will also collect information about Didymos, the asteroid that Dimorphos orbits around. Hera is expected to reach the Didymos in December 2026, the ESA said. "This has been the Hera team's first exciting experience of exploration, but not our last," said Hera mission manager Ian Carnelli in the news release. "In 21 months the spacecraft will reach our target asteroids, and start our crash site investigation of the only object in our Solar System to have had its orbit measurably altered by human action." Trump reacts to European Union slapping tariffs on U.S. goods Kentucky bourbon maker says Trump tariffs immediately impacted his business Latest on missing American college student in the Dominican Republic
CBS News
13-03-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Mysterious Mars moon captured in unprecedented images by space probe
A space probe flying past Mars captured images of the red planet's small, mysterious moon. The space probe, named Hera, was launched on Oct. 7, 2024, and is on a mission to gather close-up data about the Dimorphos asteroid, the European Space Agency said in a news release. The asteroid was the first to have its orbit altered by human action, when it was impacted by NASA's DART spacecraft in 2022. The goal of Hera is to learn more about asteroid deflection so the technique can be refined and used again. While on a flyby of Mars, Hera was able to use three of its imaging instruments to capture images of Deimos, the smaller of Mars' two moons, the ESA said. Deimos is about 15,000 miles from Mars. Scientists have previously speculated that it may actually be a piece of asteroid, not a moon. Hera got as close as 1,000 kilometers, or about 620 miles, to Deimos. It used its various instruments to capture the images, characterize the mineral makeup on the moon and chart surface temperatures. These features combined will help scientists learn more about the lunar body, the ESA said. "These instruments have been tried out before, during Hera's departure from Earth, but this is the first time that we have employed them on a small distant moon for which we still lack knowledge – demonstrating their excellent performance in the process," ESA Hera mission scientist Michael Kueppers said in the news release. The ESA's Mars Express, which has been orbiting the red planet for over 20 years, also contributed observations of the moon. Results from the encounter should help guide operational planning for a mission set to explore Martian moons in 2026, the ESA said. That mission, in conjunction with NASA and French and German space agencies, will collect detailed measurements of Mars' two moons and land on Phobos, the larger lunar body, to collect a sample that can be returned to Earth for analysis. Hera also used the flyby of Mars to adjust its trajectory through deep space. That maneuver shortened Hera's travel time to Dimorphos, the ESA said. Hera will also collect information about Didymos, the asteroid that Dimorphos orbits around. Hera is expected to reach the Didymos in December 2026, the ESA said. "This has been the Hera team's first exciting experience of exploration, but not our last," said Hera mission manager Ian Carnelli in the news release. "In 21 months the spacecraft will reach our target asteroids, and start our crash site investigation of the only object in our Solar System to have had its orbit measurably altered by human action."
