Pori Space Lab & ESA planetary defense mission: Hera

Hera is an European Space Agency planetary defense mission with an aim to monitor the efficiency of the first-ever asteroid deflection test. The target of the Hera mission is a binary asteroid pair, Didymos – Dimorphos. Dimorphos was the first object in the Solar System to have its orbit measurably shifted by humanity when NASA’s DART, Double Asteroid Redirection Test, collided with it in 2022 as an asteroid deflection test. Hera will now go study both asteroids, helping us to evaluate the asteroid deflection efficiency as well as better understand asteroids, impacts and collisions in general. Hera started its approach to Didymos in October 2026 by settling into the mission orbit and will start science observations in early November 2026.

At Pori Space Lab Prof. Tomáš Kohout is a member of Hera Investigation Team working on first-hand analysis of Hera observations. Tomáš is also principal investigator of ASPECT hyperspectral camera carried by one of Hera’s sub-spacecrafts, the Milani CubeSat, which will be released at the end of January 2027. ASPECT will provide critical information on the composition of the target asteroids and will evaluate any surface changes caused by impact of NASA DART spacecraft.