The HERA craft is on it's way to investigate the aftermath of NASA's DART asteroid impact mission the other year, using the gravity of Mars to help it along it's way.
It's getting busy out there!

https://phys.org/news/2025-03-asteroid-probe-snaps-rare-pics.html

Update on the #HeraMission from Patrick Michel for @setiinstitute :

https://youtube.com/live/LKcup8C5zUo

The spacecraft's instruments have been checked out and it has gone through the first trajectory correction maneuver to set up for the #Mars flyby early next year; where it will do some #Deimos science in passing.

2 years to #Didymos and #Dimorphos .

The #HeraMission did a pre-launch poll on what the spacecraft will find when it gets to #Didymos and #Dimorphos .

A few people responded "no Dimorphos" after the #DARTMission impact.

But Dimorphos was right there afterwards: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05805-2 .

I assume those were errant clicks on the form.

Here’s some good news for fans of shooting stars. Rocky debris blasted away from the tiny asteroid Dimorphos when NASA’s DART spacecraft intentionally slammed into it in 2022 could create the first human-made meteor shower known as the Dimorphids. New research suggests fragments will arrive in the vicinity of Earth and Mars within one to three decades. “This material could produce visible meteors as they penetrate the Martian atmosphere,” said lead study author Eloy Peña Asensio. Read more from CNN: https://flip.it/F4dEo5
#Science #Space #NASA #ShootingStars #MeteorShower #Dimorphos

NASA’s DART Impact: Asteroid Moon Permanently Transformed
https://scitechdaily.com/nasas-dart-impact-asteroid-moon-permanently-transformed/ #astronomy #meteors #asteroids #planetarydefense #DART #Dimorphos

There is a new batch of #DARTMission papers out today:

Robin et al. 2024 - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-50147-w
Lucchetti et al. 2024 - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-50145-y
Pajola et al. 2024 - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-50148-9
Barnouin et al. 2024 - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-50146-x
Bigot et al. 2024 - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-50149-8

These focus on the pre-impact geology of #Didymos and #Dimorphos , with comparisons to other near-Earth asteroids that have been visited by spacecraft.

At the #HeraMission workshop today; Ian Carnelli confirms that the mission is on schedule for launch in October: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/11661626/11661645/Hera_April2024_Schedule_V5.pdf/

It is then five months out to fly by Mars before going on to #Didymos & #Dimorphos to follow up on the #DARTMission deflection demonstration.

DART Changed the Shape of Asteroid Dimorphos, not Just its Orbit
https://www.universetoday.com/166246/dart-changed-the-shape-of-asteroid-dimorphos-not-just-its-orbit/ #astronomy #Dimorphos #Didymos #impact #PlanetaryDefense

Asteroid Struck by a Spacecraft Might Be 'Healing' as Its Surface Reforms
https://www.sciencealert.com/asteroid-struck-by-a-spacecraft-might-be-healing-as-its-surface-reforms #astronomy #asteroid #NASA #DART #Dimorphos #simulations

#Asteroid hit by NASA's #DART spacecraft is behaving unexpectedly...
https://www.space.com/nasa-dart-impact-dimorphos-acting-weird-high-school-class-discovers
#Dimorphos may be tumbling in its normally steady orbit around its parent asteroid #Didymos, according to New Scientist. Dimorphos also appeared to be continuously slowing down in its orbit for at least a month after the rocket impact, contrary to #NASA's predictions.

'Swarm of boulders' in space shows the gory aftermath of #NASA's #asteroid-smashing #DART mission

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) has left a vast field of rubble strewn around asteroid Dimorphos, Hubble images show.

By Ben Turner, July 22, 2023

"The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the gory aftermath of the first-ever intentional collision between a spacecraft and an asteroid, revealing a debris field of at least 37 'boulders"' flung thousands of miles into space.

"On Sept. 26, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft disintegrated as it smashed into the asteroid #Dimorphos, which is 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth, successfully changing the asteroid's trajectory.

"Now, by using Hubble to study the impact, astronomers have found that DART's roughly 14,540 mph (23,400 km/h) impact on the asteroid produced a 'swarm of boulders.' The rocks, which range from 3 to 22 feet (0.9 to 6.7 meters) in diameter, were most likely shaken loose from the asteroid's surface during the impact. The researchers published their findings July 20 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters."

https://www.livescience.com/space/asteroids/swarm-of-boulders-in-space-shows-the-gory-aftermath-of-nasas-asteroid-smashing-dart-mission
#DontLookUp #JustLookUp #Space #Asteroids

TFW you sell the first two prints of your DART mission painting, think the buyer’s name seems vaguely familiar, and Google tells you they’re one of the co-investigators of the #DARTmission

(Want your own? https://drose.studio/shop/dart-approaching-dimorphos-print/)

@nasa #jhuapl #spaceart #spaceartist #watercolor #watercolorart #nasa #asteroid #dimorphos #PlanetaryScience #PlanetaryArt #AstroArt #SciArt #MastoArt #MastoArtists #FediArt #BuyIntoArt #AYearForArt #ArtMatters #ArtistsOfMastodon #artistatwork

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), two teams of #astronomers have observed the aftermath of the collision between NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (#DART) #spacecraft and the #asteroid #Dimorphos.
#Astronomy #SpaceScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2023/03/astr03212301.html

This time-lapse from Hubble shows rapid changes to the asteroid Dimorphos after it was deliberately hit by the 1,200-pound NASA DART spacecraft in September. This impact was a test to see if asteroids could be deflected away from Earth: http://bit.ly/3ZK1zVh