Instruments
Hera’s main camera is being manufactured by Jena-Optronik in Germany. This lightweight camera will be used both for spacecraft navigation and scientific study of the two asteroids’ surfaces.
The camera is based on Jena-Optronik’s existing ASTROhead design.
ASTROhead has already been proven in space, aboard Northrop Grumman‘s Mission Extension Vehicle, MEV-1 in 2019, helping it perform a historic autonomous docking with a geostationary telecommunication satellite in order to extend the satellite's working lifetime.
In addition Hera will be equipped with a compact lidar – or laser radar – to measure surface altimetry to support scientific mapping as well as support close-range asteroid operations, known as the Planetary Altimeter or PALT.
A thermal infrared instrument, TIRA, will image the asteroid in the mid-infrared spectral region to map the temperature on Dimorphos's surface. From that the physical properties of its surface – such as particle size distribution and porosity – can be constrained.
The HyperScout H hyperspectral imager will help prospect the asteroid’s mineral makeup in a range of colours far beyond the limits of the human eye.
The radio science experiment will use the radio link between Hera and Earth to measure the mass and the mass distribution (including internal density variations) of Didymos, and the mass of Dimorphos.
The accuracy of the experiment may be increased by adding information from the inter-satellite links between Hera and the deep-space CubeSats it will deploy – representing a first for Europe.
The CubeSats will carry additional scientific instruments, complementing Hera's own payload suite, including a radar to investigate the interior of Didymoon and an imaging spectrometer and a mass spectrometer to determine the mineralogical and elemental composition of Didymos and Dimorphos.
