ESA's Hera mission performs critical braking maneuvers to approach asteroids
Launched two years ago, the European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft is preparing its most challenging activity: sustained braking maneuvers to slow its approach to the Didymos binary asteroids. On 15 October, Hera will rotate to align its Orbit Control Thrusters toward the Didymos system and fire three hydrazine-based thrusters continuously for 93 minutes to reduce its velocity relative to the asteroids by a few hundred meters per second; a second shorter braking maneuver is planned for 22 October, followed by smaller transition maneuvers later in the month. Hera will investigate asteroid Dimorphos, which was impacted by NASA's DART spacecraft in 2022, to gather data about the asteroid's response to the impact for planetary defense research.
