Background: this feature explains a tool that has been running alongside the mission. It is not new this week. PARIS, France, Sept. 14, 2026 - Anyone can question ESA's Hera asteroid mission directly, through the Hera Space Companion. Hera is ESA's first planetary defence mission,^[1] and the spacecraft launched in October 2024.^[2] ESA describes the companion as a mission-linked communication platform, not only an AI chatbot.^[3] It draws on approved operational, scientific and mission knowledge^[4] and answers questions about the mission in real time.^[5] Users can talk to it as a guest or sign in.^[6] Hera is the first major space mission to have this kind of public, interactive companion.^[7] Terra Mater Studios built it with Microsoft's Azure data and AI tools,^[8] and it speaks more than 20 languages.^[9] The public can chat with it through the Hera.Space portal,^[10] and ESA says it follows responsible AI design principles.^[11] Space Nugget. Planetary defence missions test ways to protect Earth from a dangerous asteroid. The best-known method is the kinetic impactor: strike the asteroid with a spacecraft to change its speed very slightly, so that over the years its path shifts enough to miss Earth. A follow-up mission then measures how well the nudge worked.