A space exploration mission has taken stunning bonus images of Mars and its moon Deimos on its way to study an asteroid. The mission, Hera, was designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) after NASA successfully tested a spacecraft crashing into an asteroid three years ago.
In 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) smashed a small spacecraft, weighing around 580 kilograms, into the distant asteroid Dimorphos to show that asteroids could be redirected to avoid catastrophic impact on Earth. The mission was successful in changing Dimorphos’ orbit without posing any risk to our planet.
The Hera mission is now getting a closer look at the effect of the crash. Launched on October 7, 2024, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, it made a flyby of Mars on March 12, 2025, and won’t reach its final destination until October 2026.
During its journey, Hera took stunning bonus images of Mars and Deimos, offering scientists a new perspective on these celestial bodies. This discovery showcases the mission’s success in providing valuable insights into asteroid dynamics and their potential to pose risks to Earth.
Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2472063-hera-asteroid-mission-takes-stunning-images-of-marss-moon-deimos