The European Space Agency’s Hera planetary defence mission team is preparing to light a fire in the sky. On the early morning of 15 October the small-car-sized spacecraft will burn its Orbit Control Thrusters in the direction of its target asteroid system for a total of 93 minutes continuously. This braking manoeuvre will bring it near to matching the orbital velocity of the Didymos binary asteroids.
Global Spaceflight2026-10-07 • ⏱️ 3 min read
Finding Hera’s way: Flight Dynamics team in action
The European Space Agency’s Hera planetary defence mission team is preparing to light a fire in the sky. On the early morning of 15 October the small-car-sized spacecraft will burn its Orbit Control Thrusters in the direction of its target asteroid system for a total of 93 minutes continuously. This braking manoeuvre will bring it near to matching the orbital velocity of the Didymos binary asteroids.
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