HERA planned mission and payload opertions at close proximity of the moon of the binary Asteroid Didymos after DART impact

Kurzfassung

HERA is a candidate ESA mission that will be launched to Didymos binary asteroid system in 2023. It will perform a detailed post-impact survey of the smaller of the two bodies, Didymoon, following the kinetic impact by the NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) planned in 2022. DART and Hera were conceived together as part of the international ‘Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment’ experiment. HERA aims to characterise physical and dynamical properties of Didymoon including its mass and shape as well as the properties of the impact crater. It will carry optical navigation cameras, a LIDAR, and a hyperspectral imager that will be used for scientific purposes as well as during proximity operations as part of the autonomous vision-based GNC system. The trajectories for the proximity operations are defined considering scientific objectives, operational restrictions, and spacecraft safety. Asteroid close-proximity operations will also provide optimal environment to test GNC solutions applicable to active debris removal and in-orbit servicing. While in the vicinity of Didymoon, Hera will deploy Europe’s first deep-space CubeSats, in order to gather additional data on Didymoon and its surroundings while testing new inter-satellite link technology for future mission architectures. These CubeSats will be placed in the proximity of Didymoon and can take greater risks than their mothership, to deliver separate but complementary observations. In this presentation, current HERA mission and proximity operations strategy will be discussed. Special focus is placed on planned payload operations including the CubeSats.