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Watch live: Images from Hera’s Mars flyby

Written by  Monday, 10 March 2025 12:49
Mars seen from Hera's top 'asteroid deck'

Join us live for a star-studded event this Thursday, as scientists working on ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence release the mission’s first scientific observations beyond the Earth-Moon system, following its imminent flyby of Mars.

Hera: Target Deimos
Hera: Target Deimos

Three Hera instruments are being used during the flyby, imaging Deimos from a minimum distance of 1000 km away:

- Hera’s black and white 1020x1020 Asteroid Framing Camera used for both navigation and scientific investigation acquires images in visible light.

- Hera’s Hyperscout H hyperspectral imager observes in a range of colours beyond the limits of the human eye, in 25 visible and near-infrared spectral bands, to help characterise mineral makeup.

- Hera’s Thermal Infrared Imager, supplied by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) images at the mid-infrared wavelengths to chart surface temperature, in the process revealing physical properties such as roughness, particle size distribution and porosity.


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