ESAHera - Planetary Defence Mission - 2024-XXX
Hera
Planetary defence mission - studying the aftermath of DART's asteroid impact
PHASE 01
Launch (Falcon 9)
Oct 7, 2024 ✓
PHASE 02
Deep space manoeuvre
Oct-Nov 2024 ✓
PHASE 03
Mars gravity assist
Mar 12, 2025 ✓
PHASE 04 - ACTIVE
Cruise & DSM-2
Feb 2026
PHASE 05
Didymos rendezvous
Nov 2026
PHASE 06
Science operations
2026-2027
- Telemetry
Hera at a glance.
Arrival
Nov 2026
Target
Dimorphos
CubeSats
2
Status
Cruise
- Status
Finishing what DART started.
Hera launched on October 7, 2024 and is ESA's first planetary defence mission. It successfully performed a Mars gravity assist on March 12, 2025, including observations of the Martian moon Deimos from just 300 km.
The spacecraft is now cruising toward the Didymos binary asteroid system, where NASA's DART impacted the moonlet Dimorphos in September 2022. Hera will arrive in November 2026 - a month ahead of schedule - to conduct a detailed post-impact survey and deploy two CubeSats, Juventas and Milani, for close-range investigation.
- Sources