Europe's HERA mission has taken a good look at Mars and its moon Deimos on its way to explore the aftermath of the DART impact in the Didymos–Dimorphos asteroid system.

During a flyby of Mars on Wednesday (March 12), ESA's Hera spacecraft inaugurated use of its science instruments to image the smaller of the planet's two moons, Deimos.

ESA's Hera spacecraft is currently headed toward the aftermath of NASA's DART asteroid-deflection test. But first, it'll stop by Mars to study the Martian moon Deimos.

The flyby of Mars and Deimos wasn't a detour but a necessary maneuver to put the spacecraft on the right trajectory toward its ultimate destination. Swinging within 3,100 miles of Mars, Hera used ...

When Hera arrives at Mars, it will use the gravity of the planet to push it toward its target, Dimorphos, which is the smaller partner of the Didymos asteroid and where it will arrive in late 2026.

Hera came as near as 5000 kilometres to the surface of Mars, receiving a gravity boost that will fling it onwards to Dimorphos. The manoeuvre shortened its journey time by many months and saved it ...

The flyby placed Hera 620 miles (1,000 km) from Deimos, which orbits Mars at approximately 14,600 miles (23,500 km). The image, taken with the Hyperscout H imager, reveals surface details in 25 ...

This Wednesday, during Hera’s flyby of Mars and Deimos, the spacecraft used three cameras — including a thermal infrared imager supplied by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Hera snapped the images from an altitude of 621 miles (1,000 km) while traveling at speeds of 20,132 mph (32,400 kph) relative to Mars. All three instruments were pointed to the less-seen side of ...

This year alone, three missions have been conducted there, with crews of four taking turns inside the habitat. The final HERA mission of 2024 was just announced by the American space agency.

NASA has selected four new volunteers to participate in a 45-day simulation of life on Mars, known as the HERA project. The mission, which will begin on November 1, will involve the crew ...