Hera is scheduled to rendezvous with the Didymos–Dimorphos asteroid system in autumn 2026.
ESA completed a software update on the Hera spacecraft while it was about 140 million kilometres from Earth.
The Hera mission software update enables autonomous navigation, scientific instrument control, and proximity operations around the asteroids.
Hera’s updated software prepares the spacecraft for close exploration of the Didymos and Dimorphos asteroids.
The Hera mission is the European contribution to an international planetary defense program developed with NASA.
The ESA mission team updated Hera’s onboard software from the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt.
The ESA Hera mission will reach Dimorphos in autumn 2026.
ESA’s Hera mission has contributed technology to the agency’s small-body exploration efforts.
RAMSES derives largely from ESA’s Hera spacecraft architecture.
OHB System AG developed the Hera mission to study the asteroid system targeted by DART’s orbital-deflection experiment.
DSI Aerospace participates in ESA missions including MetOp-SG, JUICE, Biomass, FLEX, PLATO, and Hera.
Canopy Aerospace and Defense is a Dallas-based advanced materials company formed in September 2025 by Trive Capital from Hera Technologies, MSM Industries, and a Canopy R&D center of excellence in Littleton, Colorado.
JAXA participates in ESA’s Hera mission and in joint ESA-JAXA missions such as EarthCARE and BepiColombo.
JAXA is a major partner in ESA’s Hera mission.
ESA’s planetary defense mission Hera will reach the Didymos binary asteroid system later this year.
Redwire previously delivered onboard computers for ESA’s Hera asteroid mission, the Comet Interceptor mission, and the Proba-3 formation-flying demonstration satellite.
ESA’s Hera planetary defence mission, on which JAXA is a partner, is due to arrive later this year at the Didymos binary asteroid system.
Hera is a planetary-defense mission against asteroids.
The chips on Artemis II are embedded in HERA, or Hybrid Electronic Radiation Assessor.
HERA flew around Earth in 2014 on Exploration Test Flight-1.