NASA selects US scientists to join ESA’s Hera mission

The science team behind ESA’s Hera asteroid mission is getting bigger. NASA has selected 12 participating scientists to join Europe’s first planetary defence mission, scheduled to launch this October.

Hera mission timeline

International participation in DART and Hera, including the Hera Participating Scientist Program, has been enabled by an ongoing worldwide collaboration in the planetary defence research community known as the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment.

DART was the first planetary defence test mission from NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which oversees ongoing NASA efforts in planetary defence. Hera is a mission of ESA’s Space Safety programme, overseen by the Agency’s Planetary Defence Office.

DART approaching Dimorphos

International participation in DART and Hera, including the Hera Participating Scientist Program, has been enabled by an ongoing worldwide collaboration in the planetary defence research community known as the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment.

DART was the first planetary defence test mission from NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which oversees ongoing NASA efforts in planetary defence. Hera is a mission of ESA’s Space Safety programme, overseen by the Agency’s Planetary Defence Office.

Dimorphos impact

International participation in DART and Hera, including the Hera Participating Scientist Program, has been enabled by an ongoing worldwide collaboration in the planetary defence research community known as the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment.

DART was the first planetary defence test mission from NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which oversees ongoing NASA efforts in planetary defence. Hera is a mission of ESA’s Space Safety programme, overseen by the Agency’s Planetary Defence Office.

The newly selected participating scientists are:

• Bonnie Buratti – NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Southern California

• Ingrid Daubar – Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island

• Carolyn Ernst – Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

• Dawn Graninger – Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

• Mark Haynes – NASA JPL

• Masatoshi Hirabayashi – Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

• Tim Lister – Las Cumbres Observatory, Goleta, California

• Ryan Park – NASA JPL

• Andrew Rivkin – Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

• Daniel Scheeres – University of Colorado, Boulder

• Timothy Titus – U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona

• Yun Zhang – University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Hera spacecraft with solar wing deployed

International participation in DART and Hera, including the Hera Participating Scientist Program, has been enabled by an ongoing worldwide collaboration in the planetary defence research community known as the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment.

DART was the first planetary defence test mission from NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which oversees ongoing NASA efforts in planetary defence. Hera is a mission of ESA’s Space Safety programme, overseen by the Agency’s Planetary Defence Office.

The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission – Presenting Hera - fr

NASA selects US scientists to join ESA’s Hera mission

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