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Saturday, October 24, 2026 · UTC
Launches & Rockets

ESA Hera mission one month from rendezvous with Dimorphos asteroid pair

The follow-up to NASA's DART deflection test will arrive at the double asteroid system after two years in flight.

Luisa Marconi
Senior Space Correspondent
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PARIS, France, Oct. 19, 2026 - The European Space Agency's Hera mission is scheduled to rendezvous with the Dimorphos-Didymos asteroid pair in one month.[1] Hera launched 7 October 2024 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral. It is currently travelling at 12 kilometres per second relative to Earth. The spacecraft will perform a braking manoeuvre early Thursday to prepare for arrival.[2] [3] [4] This mission is the follow-up to NASA's 2022 DART test, which slammed a kinetic impactor into Dimorphos and shortened the small asteroid moon's orbit by 32 minutes.[5] [6] Shortly after rendezvous, Hera will deploy two CubeSats, Juventas and Milani, to map the asteroids' internal structure and surface composition. Juventas may attempt to land on Dimorphos.[7] [8] Space Nugget. Kinetic deflection is the only asteroid deflection technique ever tested at full scale. It works by transferring momentum from an impacting spacecraft to alter an asteroid's orbital path.
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What this stands on
  1. The European Space Agency's Hera mission is scheduled to rendezvous with the Dimorphos-Didymos asteroid pair in one month. · IEEE Spectrum
  2. Hera was launched on a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. on 7 October 2024. · IEEE Spectrum
  3. Hera is traveling at 12 kilometers per second relative to Earth as it approaches the asteroid system. · IEEE Spectrum
  4. The ESA Hera mission will perform a braking maneuver early Thursday morning to prepare for its rendezvous with the asteroid system Didymos and its moon Dimorphos. · EarthSky | Updates on your cosmos and world
  5. NASA demonstrated kinetic impact asteroid deflection with the 2022 DART mission targeting asteroid moon Dimorphos. · Interesting Engineering
  6. NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission slammed into Dimorphos in 2022, shortening its orbit by about 32 minutes. · IEEE Spectrum
  7. Hera's two CubeSats, Juventas and Milani, will deploy shortly after rendezvous to study the asteroids' internal structure and spectral composition. · IEEE Spectrum
  8. Juventas may even approach and come to rest on Dimorphos to make comparisons of the internal structure of the asteroids. · IEEE Spectrum
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