Hera will investigate the 2022 crash using various measuring instruments and observations. She has her own instruments and two assistants, two smaller craft that she will release in the coming months.
Hera was therefore sent on site to take a closer look at the extent of the damage and fully document, in detail, the result of the impact, which is not currently available.
Dart, a small probe, had deliberately crashed into Dimorphos four years ago in the hope of modifying its trajectory. The operation succeeded: it is now known that it is possible to change the path of a large rock.
The general public will be able to follow the entire operation. One can converse with the probe on the site hera.esa.int and ask for news of it thanks to an artificial intelligence set up by the European Space Agency.
Space agencies are thus continuing their first planetary defense operation, intended to assess how to divert an object coming from space in the event of a collision risk.
The first images will be presented as they become available on the ESA website. A more detailed presentation will take place at the end of the month.
Dozens of scientists and engineers are involved in this mission, the first of its kind organized by space agencies.
It is also necessary to measure the physical characteristics of the asteroid, in particular its internal structure and all the parameters that influence its response to the impact.