Hera asteroid spacecraft assembled

Hera is complete. ESA’s asteroid mission for planetary defence was built and prepared in two halves, but now, through a painstaking operation, they have been mated together to make a single spacecraft, ready for full-scale testing of its readiness for space.

Hera, her CubeSats, and their rocky target

“If we need to, we can still access internal units through side panels. Next we will be adding some payload units to the spacecraft's top deck which we are receiving directly from the manufacturers once Hera moves to its next stop.

“That is at the end of this month, when Hera is being transported to the ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands, where it will go through a full-scale environmental test campaign to check its flight-readiness.”

Hubble sees boulders escaping from asteroid Dimorphos

“If we need to, we can still access internal units through side panels. Next we will be adding some payload units to the spacecraft's top deck which we are receiving directly from the manufacturers once Hera moves to its next stop.

“That is at the end of this month, when Hera is being transported to the ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands, where it will go through a full-scale environmental test campaign to check its flight-readiness.”

Mating Hera: two into one

Hera’s Propulsion Module incorporates its propellant tanks – housed within a central carbon fibre reinforced polymer cylinder, the ‘backbone’ of the spacecraft – along with piping and thrusters, which will have the job of hauling the mission across deep space for more than two years, then to manoeuvre around Dimorphos and Didymos.

Meanwhile Hera’s Core Module can be thought of as the brains of the mission, hosting its onboard computer, mission systems and instruments.

Hera Propulsion Module

“If we need to, we can still access internal units through side panels. Next we will be adding some payload units to the spacecraft's top deck which we are receiving directly from the manufacturers once Hera moves to its next stop.

“That is at the end of this month, when Hera is being transported to the ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands, where it will go through a full-scale environmental test campaign to check its flight-readiness.”

Hera's Core Module lowered onto Propulsion Module

“If we need to, we can still access internal units through side panels. Next we will be adding some payload units to the spacecraft's top deck which we are receiving directly from the manufacturers once Hera moves to its next stop.

“That is at the end of this month, when Hera is being transported to the ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands, where it will go through a full-scale environmental test campaign to check its flight-readiness.”

Complete Hera spacecraft

“If we need to, we can still access internal units through side panels. Next we will be adding some payload units to the spacecraft's top deck which we are receiving directly from the manufacturers once Hera moves to its next stop.

“That is at the end of this month, when Hera is being transported to the ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands, where it will go through a full-scale environmental test campaign to check its flight-readiness.”

Hera and its CubeSats at Didymos system

“If we need to, we can still access internal units through side panels. Next we will be adding some payload units to the spacecraft's top deck which we are receiving directly from the manufacturers once Hera moves to its next stop.

“That is at the end of this month, when Hera is being transported to the ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands, where it will go through a full-scale environmental test campaign to check its flight-readiness.”

The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission – Tales of Terrific Technology - it

Hera asteroid spacecraft assembled

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