A spacecraft chasing asteroids just passed Mars on Wednesday. When it jumped in, it took hundreds of shots of the red planet and several snaps of Deimos, one of two small Martian moons.
The operators of the European Space Agency's Hera spaceship were fascinated by the science fiction aesthetics of photography.
At a press conference Thursday at Mission Control in Darmstadt, Germany, Hera's lead researcher Patrick Michel said: When the first shot of the moon appeared, many members of the Hera team fell into cheers. “I've never seen Deimos like that,” Dr. Michelle said.
The navigator was able to fly the spatula over Demos about 600 miles above Demos, which is only nine miles long. The path shows the object with incredible details. It is a small island glides over the desert of craterscarred Mars.
At the press conference, HERA Project Manager Ian Carnelli was foggy. “I'm going to be emotional,” he said. “The excitement was so high that we didn't sleep.”
Hera used Mars in what is known as Gravity Assist. Both had accelerated the spacecraft and adjusted the flight path. However, the mission operator also wanted to use the flyby of Mars to test a mechanical eye that could use it to study Demorphos, the asteroid the Spatula is targeted at.
In the coming days, mission scientists will reveal more photos from the encounter between Hera and Mars, which may include shots of Phobos, the planet's other moon.
Like other planet flybys, there were some nerves as to whether Hera would properly pilot it and reach the correct trajectory. “The spacecraft behaved very well,” said Sylvain Lodiot of Hera Operations Manager. “We're on track to the asteroid system.”
Hera heads to Dimorphos as a follow-up to the 2022 NASA mission, a double planet redirect test. Dirt deliberately struck the spacecraft against the asteroid, aiming to change its orbit around the larger asteroid, Didimos. It was a test of whether dangerous cosmic rocks bound to Earth could be deflected in a similar way.
The experiment successfully changed the trajectory of Dimorphos. However, the physical properties of the asteroid and its complete response to the dirt collision remain unknown. Some evidence suggests that it acts like a liquid upon hit, not a solid, expels many debris and reshapes itself.
When it comes to stopping deadly asteroids from hitting Earth, the more scientists know about their rocky enemies, the better they are ready if they embrace our path. To support that effort, the European Herra Mission arrives at Dimorphos for a close-up study of the asteroids that affected the dirt in late 2026.
This Wednesday, during the flyby of Hera's Mars and Deimos, the spacecraft used three cameras.
The two moons of Mars have a mysterious origin. Both are fragments of collapsed asteroids captured by the gravity of the planet, or perhaps the rest of flotsam and Jetsam from the giant impact event on Mars.
Deimos is trapped in the tide. In other words, one hemisphere is facing Mars forever. This near is most commonly seen by spacecrafts that orbit the planet and rovers running across surfaces. Hera managed to fly behind Deimos. In other words, we captured a rare sight.
“We're a HERA team member who is a researcher at the German Aerospace Center,” said Stephan Ulamec, a researcher at the German Aerospace Center and a member of the HERA team.
This opportunistic peep of Mars and Deimos was exciting. However, the team is particularly excited that Hera is currently heading towards his asteroid destination. “We're all looking forward to what Didymos and Demorphos look like,” Dr. Michel said.
