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Hera is ESA’s follow-up spacecraft to NASA’s DART experiment. Rather than causing the impact, Hera will examine its aftermath at the Didymos binary asteroid system. Its survey is designed to map Didymos and Dimorphos, characterize the DART impact site, determine Dimorphos’s mass and gravity environment, and investigate mineral composition, porosity and internal structure. Two CubeSats will add measurements that the main spacecraft cannot make alone. Together, these observations should show how the impact changed Dimorphos’s motion and how reliably a kinetic impactor can be assessed as a planetary-defence technique.
Hera’s target: a binary asteroid system, not just a crater
Didymos is a binary system: a larger primary body, Didymos, orbited by the smaller moonlet Dimorphos. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) intentionally struck Dimorphos on September 26, 2022. Ground-based observatories detected a change in Dimorphos’s orbital period around Didymos after the collision. That change is an important early result, but it does not by itself reveal Dimorphos’s mass, detailed shape, interior, surface geology or the complete form of the impact site.
Hera is intended to make those close-range measurements. Its science target is therefore both the impact and the binary system in which the impact occurred. Measuring Didymos helps define the system’s gravity and dynamics, while measuring Dimorphos supplies the physical context needed to interpret DART’s effect.
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ESA’s mission descriptions present these as planned investigations. The measurements should not be treated as completed Hera results unless a later mission update specifically confirms them.
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What Hera is designed to measure
| Question | How Hera will investigate it | What the result contributes |
|---|---|---|
| What are the bodies’ shapes and surface features? | High-resolution imaging and laser mapping from the main spacecraft | Three-dimensional shape, terrain, boulders, slopes and the geological setting of the impact |
| What does the DART impact site look like? | Close visual and laser surveys of Dimorphos | The crater’s size, morphology and surrounding ejecta, which help explain momentum transfer |
| How massive is Dimorphos? | Radio-science tracking, spacecraft Doppler measurements and inter-satellite links | A mass value needed to quantify how strongly the impact changed the moonlet’s motion |
| What are the local gravity fields? | Radio science, links between Hera and its CubeSats, and Juventas’s GRASS instrument | Dynamics of Didymos and Dimorphos and a direct surface-gravity measurement if Juventas lands successfully |
| What is Dimorphos made of? | Milani’s mineral-composition observations | Mineralogical context for the surface and impact ejecta |
| What is inside Dimorphos? | Juventas radar sounding and internal-structure analysis from radio-science results | Evidence about layering, voids, porosity and the arrangement of material below the surface |
Shape, terrain and the impact site
Mapping both asteroids
Hera’s cameras will build a detailed visual record of Didymos and Dimorphos as the spacecraft approaches and operates within the binary system. Imaging is not limited to taking representative photographs. Repeated views from changing angles allow scientists to reconstruct each body’s shape, identify surface units and place individual features in a three-dimensional map.
Laser mapping adds range measurements. By recording the distance between the spacecraft and points on the surface, a laser altimeter can help produce a topographic model independent of the lighting conditions that affect ordinary images. Combining images and laser data can reveal slopes, ridges, depressions, large rocks and other terrain features that influence how material moved during the impact.
Examining the DART crater
The impact site is one of the central unresolved features of the experiment. Hera is designed to search for and map the crater produced when DART hit Dimorphos, as well as the nearby deposits and disrupted terrain. A crater’s dimensions and shape indicate how the target responded: a compact, relatively simple excavation and a broad, irregular disturbance imply different interactions between the projectile and the asteroid material.
Knowing the crater geometry also helps connect the visible aftermath to the amount of momentum transferred. Ejected material carries momentum away from the impact point. Its distribution, together with the crater’s form and the target’s overall shape, can be used in physical models of the collision. Hera’s maps will supply the surface context that Earth-based observations cannot resolve at this distance.
Why shape matters to the interpretation
Dimorphos is a small natural body rather than a uniform laboratory sphere. An irregular outline, a rubble-rich surface or a steep local slope can change how an impact excavates material and how ejecta are launched. A precise shape model lets researchers account for those effects instead of treating the moonlet as an idealized object. Mapping Didymos at the same time also improves calculations of the binary orbit and the forces acting on Dimorphos.
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Mass, gravity and orbital dynamics
Dimorphos’s mass is a key measurement
To determine how effective DART was, scientists need more than the observed change in orbital period. They need to know the mass of Dimorphos and the amount of material expelled by the collision. Dimorphos’s mass sets the relationship between an applied impulse and the resulting change in velocity. A close-range mass estimate will therefore allow researchers to quantify the impact’s momentum enhancement rather than describe the outcome only as a period change.
The mass also helps distinguish among possible physical models. Two bodies with similar sizes can respond differently if one is dense and coherent while the other is porous and loosely assembled. Hera’s mass, shape and surface observations can be analyzed together to determine which kinds of target properties best fit the observed orbital change.
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Hera’s radio link with Earth will be used for precision tracking. Changes in the spacecraft’s velocity along the line of sight produce measurable Doppler shifts in its radio signal. During carefully planned passes, the tiny gravitational tugs from Didymos and Dimorphos alter Hera’s trajectory. Modeling those changes provides information about the system’s gravitational parameters and, consequently, the bodies’ masses.
This method does not require Hera to touch either asteroid. It uses the spacecraft as a moving probe whose path responds to the binary system’s gravity. The quality of the result depends on the tracking data, spacecraft trajectory and the ability to separate asteroid gravity from other forces and navigation uncertainties.
Inter-satellite links and local gravity
Hera will also communicate with its CubeSats. Measurements exchanged between spacecraft can reveal how their relative motion changes as they fly through the gravity field of Didymos and Dimorphos. This adds a local perspective to the Earth-to-spacecraft radio measurements and helps resolve the gravitational environment around the small bodies.
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One CubeSat, Juventas, carries GRASS, an instrument ESA describes as intended to make the first direct measurement of gravity on an asteroid surface after landing on Dimorphos. A successful surface operation would provide a local gravity observation that complements the remote tracking methods. Until such an operation is confirmed, GRASS should be described as a planned capability, not a completed measurement.
Interior structure and porosity
Inferring what cannot be seen
Images show the surface, but the impact response depends strongly on material below it. ESA identifies Dimorphos’s porosity and internal structure as important investigation goals. Porosity is the fraction of a body’s volume occupied by voids rather than solid material. A porous aggregate can absorb, redirect or dissipate impact energy differently from a more consolidated rock.
Hera will not simply photograph the interior. Scientists will infer internal properties by combining the measured mass with the reconstructed volume and shape, then comparing those results with the way the body’s gravity and surface responded. Radio-science data can also reveal how mass is distributed within the system. The resulting models may constrain whether Dimorphos is relatively uniform, internally heterogeneous or assembled from weakly bound material.
Juventas radar sounding
Juventas carries radar intended to sound into an asteroid. Radar pulses can travel below the visible surface and reflect from boundaries or changes in material properties. Those echoes may provide evidence of layering, large internal interfaces, buried structures or void-rich regions.
Radar sounding does not automatically produce a complete geological cross-section. Interpretation depends on the signal’s penetration, the electrical properties of the material and the CubeSat’s position and orientation. The radar results will therefore be combined with the shape model, gravity measurements and surface geology rather than read in isolation.
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Mineral composition with Milani
The second CubeSat, Milani, is assigned to prospecting the mineral make-up of Dimorphos. Its observations are intended to identify the composition of surface materials and help distinguish different mineralogical units. This matters because the visible crater and ejecta are not meaningful without knowing what kind of material was excavated.
Composition also provides context for comparing the surface with the interior. If exposed material differs from the surrounding surface, the impact may have revealed previously buried layers or mixed material from different parts of the moonlet. The available mission descriptions establish mineral prospecting as an objective; they do not establish a final composition or a completed mineralogical result.
How the measurements explain DART’s momentum transfer
DART’s orbital-period change, measured by astronomers using ground telescopes, shows that the collision altered Dimorphos’s motion. Hera is designed to explain why the change had the size that it did.
- Reconstruct the target. Imaging and laser mapping determine Dimorphos’s shape, volume, surface texture and the geometry of the impact region.
- Measure the gravitational system. Radio tracking, Doppler shifts and inter-satellite links constrain the masses and gravity fields of Didymos and Dimorphos.
- Characterize the material. Milani’s mineral observations, Juventas radar and the radio-science analysis provide evidence about composition, porosity and internal structure.
- Model the collision. Researchers combine crater morphology, ejecta distribution, target properties and the measured orbital response to estimate how much momentum the escaping material added to the direct spacecraft impact.
- Assess the technique. The resulting physical explanation can be used to judge how transferable a kinetic-impactor result may be to other small asteroids.
The important distinction is between an outcome already observed from Earth and the close-range measurements Hera is intended to provide. Telescopes established that Dimorphos’s orbit changed; Hera’s role is to determine the target properties and impact details needed to interpret that change quantitatively.
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| Spacecraft | Primary contribution | Why it is complementary |
|---|---|---|
| Hera | High-resolution imaging, laser mapping, radio science and support for the binary-system survey | Provides the main spacecraft platform, detailed shape and surface maps, and precision tracking |
| Milani | Mineral-composition prospecting at Dimorphos | Adds a dedicated look at what the surface material is made of |
| Juventas | Radar sounding, inter-satellite measurements and GRASS surface-gravity work | Extends the investigation below the surface and, if landed successfully, measures gravity locally |
Operating several spacecraft around a small binary system is technically demanding. Each vehicle contributes a different measurement geometry, and the combined data set is more informative than any single instrument. At the same time, a CubeSat objective that depends on a landing or close pass remains conditional on navigation, communications and surface-operation success.
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What Hera’s results will and will not establish
Hera should improve the physical description of the Didymos system and make the DART experiment more quantitatively assessable. It is not, by itself, a guarantee that one impact strategy will work for every potentially hazardous asteroid. Asteroids differ in size, shape, rotation, composition, porosity and orbital situation. The value of Hera’s measurements is that they connect one demonstrated impact to a well-characterized target, allowing future models and experiments to be tested against real observations.
The mission will also not turn every inferred property into a single unambiguous number. Internal structure, porosity and radar reflections require modeling, and different models can fit limited observations. Results will carry uncertainties and assumptions that must be reported alongside the measured quantities. A final assessment of DART’s momentum enhancement will therefore depend on the consistency of the imaging, gravity, composition and interior data.
Why these measurements matter for planetary defence
A kinetic impactor works by transferring momentum to an asteroid. The spacecraft’s direct collision is only part of the exchange: material blasted from the surface can increase the total momentum delivered to the target. That enhancement depends on the asteroid’s physical response.
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By measuring Dimorphos’s mass, shape, crater, surface, composition, gravity and internal structure, Hera is designed to identify the mechanisms behind DART’s orbital change. That turns a successful demonstration into a better-characterized experiment. The resulting knowledge can improve impact simulations, help mission planners estimate the effect of a future deflection attempt and clarify which target properties matter most when selecting a planetary-defence strategy.
Quick Recap
Reader takeaway
- Hera is the follow-up investigator to DART, not the impactor that struck Dimorphos.
- Its main target is Dimorphos, but it will also map and characterize the larger Didymos body and the binary system’s dynamics.
- Imaging and laser mapping address shape, terrain and the DART crater.
- Radio science, Doppler tracking and inter-satellite links address mass and gravity.
- Milani will investigate mineral composition, while Juventas will use radar for subsurface sounding and carry GRASS for planned surface-gravity measurements.
- The purpose is to explain the observed orbital change and assess kinetic impact as a planetary-defence method, not merely to produce close-up pictures.
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