WEBWIRE – Monday, March 3, 2025
Media representatives are invited to attend a briefing on 13 March 2025 following the Hera missions close flyby of Mars and its enigmatic moon, Deimos, on 12 March. The flyby is a significant milestone in Heras journey to the binary asteroid system Didymos and a crucial step in the ESAs efforts to develop reliable methods for asteroid deflection and planetary defence
The spacecrafts three camera systems are expected to obtain images of the Red Planet from around 5000 km and of Deimos from just 1000 km, providing a rare opportunity to study this small and mysterious object and calibrate Heras scientific instruments.
During the flyby on 12 March, Hera will use Marss gravity to optimise its journey to the Didymos system, and will make closest approach to Mars at 13:50 CET. Hera will use its visual Asteroid Framing Camera (AFC), visual-near infrared Hyperscout-H imaging spectrometer and JAXAs Thermal Infrared Imager (TIRI) to observe Mars, Deimos and Phobos during the swingby.
Orbiting some 23 400 km from Mars, Deimos is the further and smallest of the two Martian moons. The lumpy body has a diameter of about 12 km and features a dark surface reminiscent of C-type asteroids. One theory is that both Deimos and its fellow Martian moon Phobos are in fact captured asteroids from the main asteroid belt, although their surface characteristics have features in common with the planet below them, which would conversely suggest an impact-based origin.
Hera is an ESA-led mission for planetary defence, developed as part of a larger international endeavour, the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) collaboration.
On 13 March, media representatives will be able to witness the release of first images and results of this manoeuvre, as well as speak with ESA experts and European and international scientists.
Programme: 13 March 2025 10:00-11:30 CET (doors open 09:30)
Location: ESAs Mission Control Centre ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany
Welcome and Introduction
Overview of the mission and payload:
Michael Kueppers, Hera Project Scientist (ESA)
Patrick Michel, Hera Principal Investigator (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
Overview of critical gravity assist operations:
Caglayan Guerbuez, Hera Spacecraft Operations Manager (ESA)
How we get to an asteroid:
Pablo Muoz, Mission Analyst (ESA)
Presentation of flyby images
- AFC: Jean-Baptiste Vincent (DLR-German Aerospace Centre)
- Hyperscout: Julia de Leon (Instituto de Astrofsica de Canarias) and Marcel Popescu (Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy)
- TIRI: Tatsu Okada (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science)
Apophis 2029 flyby: the RAMSES mission
Monica Lazzarin, Researcher (University of Padua)
Planetary Defence at ESA: Asteroid 2024 YR4 and Flyeye
Richard Moissl, ESA Planetary Defence Officer
Q&A and wrap-up
Briefing will be followed by individual media interviews and photo opportunities.
The briefing will be available in hybrid format, with the possibility of remote participation via WebEx.
Image Distribution
Flyby images of Mars and Deimos acquired around closest approach on 12 March are expected to be downloaded, processed and available for distribution under embargo to media starting at 09:00 CET 13 March. While they will be shown and described during the briefing, media will be requested to maintain the image embargo until 12:00 CET, which coincides with the start of ESAs webcast to present the images to the public.
Descriptions and extended captions will also be distributed with the flyby images, together with background material and digital assets on Hera, asteroid Didymos and planetary defence.
Hera imaging systems AFC, Hyperscout and TIRI
https://www.heramission.space/hera-instruments
We look forward to your participation in this event. Please register by 11 March 2025 via https://blogs.esa.int/forms/esa-media-briefing-form/, choosing the format you are interested in (on-site event or remote participation).
For more information, please contact: [email protected]
Hera mission: https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Hera_asteroid_mission_launch_kit
Hera AI companion ESAs first virtual influencer
https://www.hera.space
Images
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Missions/Hera/(result_type)/images
For questions or more information related to ESA images, please contact directly%[email protected].
Videos
Hera: ESAs planetary defence mission – Animations
Hera: ESAs planetary defence mission – clips
https://www.esa.int/esatv/Videos_for_Professionals
AR/VR
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/12/Hera_asteroid_mission_in_your_house
For questions or more information related to ESA videos, please contact directly%[email protected].
Social media
Follow ESA on:
Bluesky: @esa,@esaoperations.esa.int
X:@ESA_Hera,@esa,@esaoperations
Hera AI: https://www.hera.space
Instagram:Europeanspaceagency
Facebook:EuropeanSpaceAgency
YouTube:ESA
LinkedIn:European Space Agency – ESA
Pinterest:European Space Agency – ESA
About the Hera AI companion
TheHera Space Companion is an AI-powered assistant that offers new dimensions of interactivity. Users can converse directly with the spacecraft, follow discoveries in real time and gain a unique behind-the-scenes insight into planetary defence.
About the European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europes gateway to space.
ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europes space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
ESA has 23 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia are Associate Members.
ESA has established formal cooperation with other four Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.
By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.
Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int
( Press Release Image: https://photos.webwire.com/prmedia/7/335119/335119-1.png )
WebWireID335119
This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.
News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.
