The sensor-packed detective spacecraft will scan the battered asteroid Dimorphos up close.
Dimorphos, the smaller companion of the asteroid Didymos, in September 2022, creating debris and, crucially, altering the space rock's orbit. , which will follow up on the aftermath. The two modules of the Hera spacecraft were recently mated at the facilities of the technology company OHB in Bremen, Germany, in a three-hour process. This propulsion module was mated with Hera's Core Module at OHB Bremen to complete the spacecraft structure.
"Previously we had these two modules; now you can say the spacecraft has been born," Paolo Martino, Hera system engineer, said in a"Next we will be adding some payload units to the spacecraft's top deck, which we are receiving directly from the manufacturers once Hera moves to its next stop," Martino said.
Hera will be transported to ESA's ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands. There it will undergo an environmental test campaign as part of flight-readiness checks.
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