ESA’s Hera mission has made history by capturing the first-ever images of Mars’ smallest moon, Deimos. During a flyby of Mars on March 12, Hera’s trio of instruments imaged the red planet and Deimos, revealing new insights into the mysterious moon.
Launched in October 2024, Hera is headed to visit Dimorphos asteroid, which was impacted by NASA’s DART spacecraft in 2022. The mission aims to turn asteroid deflection into a well-understood technique by gathering close-up data about Dimorphos.
Hera’s gravity assist maneuver during the Mars flyby shortened its journey time and saved fuel. The spacecraft imaged Deimos from just 1,000 km away, surveying its less-seen opposite side. Deimos is thought to be either a leftover of a giant impact on Mars or a captured asteroid.
ESA’s Hera Spacecraft Operations Manager Caglayan Guerbuez praised the team’s planning and fine-tuning of the gravity assist maneuver. The mission utilized three instruments: an Asteroid Framing Camera, Hyperscout H hyperspectral imager, and Thermal Infrared Imager.
The results will guide operational planning for next year’s Martian Moons eXploration Mission (MMX), which aims to collect detailed measurements of both martian moons and land on Phobos. Hera is now on course towards its twin destinations, Dimorphos and Didymos asteroids, with a follow-up maneuver in February and subsequent ‘impulsive rendezvous’ thruster firings starting in October 2026.
Source: https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Hera_asteroid_mission_spies_Mars_s_Deimos_moon