Europe prepares to launch Hera mission to study NASA's asteroid impact

The Hera mission, Europe’s first planetary defense project, is set to launch as early as Monday. It will follow NASA’s successful DART mission, which impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos in 2022 to test asteroid deflection techniques. Hera will gather data on the aftermath of the DART impact and assess the Didymos asteroid system. The spacecraft is scheduled to reach its destination in late 2026, equipped with 12 instruments and two cubesats, Juventas and Milani, for detailed surveys. A potential delay in the launch is due to pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration after a recent incident involving a SpaceX rocket. If Hera does not launch by the end of October, the next opportunity will not be until October 2026.