ESA - Planetary Defence - Archive

ESA title

Hera approaching Didymos asteroids

Hera on course for asteroid rendezvous

17/03/2026 2669 views 68 likes

ESA analysing fireball over Europe on 8 March 2026

09/03/2026 21534 views 80 likes

James Webb Space Telescope spots faint asteroid 2024 YR4 - 18 February 2026

Asteroid 2024 YR4 will not impact the Moon

05/03/2026 7951 views 53 likes

ESA awards contracts for Ramses mission to Apophis

10/02/2026 3357 views 43 likes

ESA's Planetary Defence team

10 asteroids named to honour ESA’s role in Planetary Defence

13/01/2026 2294 views 33 likes

Observation of 40 000 near-Earth Asteroids

40 000 near-Earth asteroids discovered!

20/11/2025 5044 views 51 likes

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter observes comet 3I/ATLAS – GIF

ESA pinpoints 3I/ATLAS’s path with data from Mars

14/11/2025 152406 views 216 likes

ESA’s Hera targets early arrival at Didymos asteroids

07/10/2025 2679 views 14 likes

French meteorite challenges asteroid hazard models

02/10/2025 1949 views 14 likes

ESA's Ramses mission at the asteroid Apophis

ESA and JAXA advance potential Apophis mission collaboration

27/08/2025 4541 views 61 likes

Asteroid (18805) Kellyday

First asteroid sightings push Hera’s camera to the limit

06/08/2025 5910 views 63 likes

ESA observes interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS

ESA tracks rare interstellar comet

03/07/2025 81199 views 501 likes

Flyeye's view of the Andromeda galaxy

ESA’s new asteroid hunter opens its eye to the sky

05/06/2025 8386 views 87 likes

Ramses mission patch

Second CubeSat joins ESA’s Ramses mission to asteroid Apoph…

20/05/2025 4311 views 70 likes

Cartoon Hera made using LEGO® bricks, designed by Frans Snik

Hera’s incredible adventures in brick building

13/03/2025 3458 views 32 likes

Sir Brian May and the rest of Hera's science team see Mars image arrive

Hera asteroid mission spies Mars’s Deimos moon

13/03/2025 24345 views 139 likes

Hera swings by Mars

Watch live: Images from Hera’s Mars flyby

10/03/2025 28172 views 119 likes

Ramses mission patch

First CubeSat joins ESA's Ramses mission to asteroid Apophis

05/03/2025 5590 views 52 likes

Asteroid 2024 YR4 impact risk rises and falls

Asteroid 2024 YR4 no longer poses significant impact risk

25/02/2025 28943 views 89 likes

Near-Earth objects

ESA endorses Year of Asteroid Awareness and Planetary Defen…

07/02/2025 9301 views 65 likes

Asteroid - artist's impression

ESA actively monitoring near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4

29/01/2025 191553 views 145 likes

Hera fires its thrusters

Enabling & Support

Hera burns towards Mars

08/11/2024 5613 views 65 likes

ESA's Ramses mission to asteroid Apophis

ESA moves forward with Apophis mission preparations

17/10/2024 14223 views 128 likes

Hera's first images (Asteroid Framing Camera - Earth)

Hera’s first images offer parting glimpse of Earth and Moon

14/10/2024 15429 views 140 likes

Members of the Hera operations team on launch day

Hera takes flight: Didymos, here we come

10/10/2024 5154 views 54 likes

Planetary defence mission Hera heading for deflected astero…

07/10/2024 16843 views 44 likes

Hera launch animation still

Hera launch: how to watch

04/10/2024 21903 views 92 likes

ESA’s final observations of asteroid 2024 RW1

Asteroid 2024 RW1 impact – ESA analysis

09/09/2024 7365 views 18 likes

Debris from DART impact could reach Earth

06/09/2024 9858 views 50 likes

Hera departs ESA test centre

Goodbye Hera: asteroid mission departs ESA test centre

02/09/2024 2927 views 19 likes

Near-Earth objects

Two large asteroids safely pass Earth just 42 hours apart

24/06/2024 42538 views 43 likes

Meteor seen by Meteosat Third Generation Imager

Fireball witnessed by weather satellite

22/05/2024 5740 views 27 likes

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks

‘Mother of Dragons’ comet visible in the night sky

26/03/2024 190794 views 124 likes

Chelyabinsk asteroid trail

10 years preparing for 'Armageddon'

08/02/2024 6515 views 45 likes

Asteroid 2024 BX1 tracked prior to impact

Asteroid 2024 BX1 spotted three hours before impact

25/01/2024 9604 views 26 likes

Juventas studies asteroid's internal structure

Hera’s mini-radar will probe asteroid’s heart

10/08/2023 5874 views 65 likes

Hubble sees boulders escaping from asteroid Dimorphos

Science & Exploration

Hubble sees boulders escaping from asteroid Dimorphos

20/07/2023 11208 views 123 likes

Dimorphos asteroid seen by DART

Imagine walking on Hera’s asteroid

30/06/2023 4787 views 78 likes

Hera and its CubeSats at Didymos system

Precision deployer to put Hera’s CubeSats into asteroid orb…

29/06/2023 3874 views 41 likes

GRASS gravimeter on shaker

Instrument to measure asteroid gravity tested for space

22/05/2023 6797 views 66 likes

Hera, her CubeSats, and their rocky target destination

What colour is an asteroid? Hyperspectral imager to find out

24/04/2023 3307 views 44 likes

Science & Exploration

Webb detects extremely small main-belt asteroid

06/02/2023 13215 views 125 likes

Curious comet’s rare close approach

01/02/2023 35821 views 243 likes

Artist's impression of asteroid 21 Lutetia

Christmas challenge: find mystery asteroid

09/12/2022 11126 views 52 likes

Time-lapse photograph of 2022 WJ1 taken by astronomer Robert Weryk in Ontario, Canada

The sixth asteroid impact we saw coming

24/11/2022 61055 views 142 likes

ESA's Optical Ground Station

Enabling & Support

ESA’s site for laser and quantum links marks 25 years

18/11/2022 3050 views 52 likes

Artist's impression of asteroid 21 Lutetia

30 000 near-Earth asteroids discovered and rising

12/10/2022 21073 views 65 likes

LICIACube image of asteroid ejecta

First kinetic impact test succeeds in shifting asteroid orb…

12/10/2022 6515 views 55 likes

Science & Exploration

Webb and Hubble capture detailed views of DART impact

29/09/2022 13194 views 116 likes

Plume ejects from Dimorphos as DART impacts

ESA to capture light from deflected asteroid’s new plume

26/09/2022 25273 views 79 likes

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