2024-10-09 03:47:43
SpaceX successfully launched the European automatic interplanetary station (AMS) Hera to an asteroid. This was reported by SpaceNews, Day.Az reports with reference to Lenta.ru.
The Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida on October 7. 76 minutes after launch, the AMS separated from the upper stage of the carrier. At the same time, the European Space Agency took over the AMS.
Earlier, the US Federal Aviation Administration approved the launch of Hera on the Falcon 9 rocket of the American company SpaceX. Despite issuing permission to launch Hera, the regulator suspended other Falcon 9 launches. At the end of September, SpaceX suspended launches of the Falcon 9 rocket due to an anomaly that arose during the Crew-9 mission when the upper stage of the carrier left earth orbit.
At the end of 2026, the European space probe Hera should fly up to the near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos, which has a small satellite Dimorph. The trajectory of the latter in September 2022 was changed by the kinetic impact of the American Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). The tasks of the European AWS and its two Asteroid Prospection Explorer (APEX) Juventas cubesats include both studying the asteroids themselves and the consequences of the DART impact on Dimorph.