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A window into exploration beyond Earth. Follow missions, astronomy, planetary science and the engineering that makes the next journey possible.

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Posted bybrk275Founder20 hours ago20h

Hera can finally see both asteroids. Now comes the harder question about DART

Hera can now resolve Didymos and Dimorphos separately, bringing it closer to discovering whether DART left a crater or reshaped the smaller asteroid. How much would we need to know about an asteroid's structure before trusting a similar maneuver to protect Earth?

esa.intFirst light: Hera resolves two asteroids instead of oneThe European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft for planetary defence has resolved its two target asteroids separately for the very first time, revealing the binary nature of the Didymos system, currently some 197 million km away from Earth.