'Hera' asteroid mission ready to launch with Swiss participation

The "Hera" asteroid defence mission is about to be launched. On Monday, the European Space Agency's (ESA) probe is due to lift off on board a Falcon 9 rocket towards the asteroid Dimorphos. Swiss researchers are involved in the mission. Two years ago, the US space agency NASA crashed a probe into the asteroid Dimorphos as part of the Dart mission (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) in order to divert it from its course. "Hera" is now to investigate what exactly the impact with the asteroid did. + Get the most important Swiss news directly in your inbox The ESA refers to this as its first planetary defence mission. "The mission contributes to understanding how an asteroid on a collision course with Earth can be deflected," explained Martin Jutzi from the University of Bern, who is involved in the mission, to the Keystone-SDA news agency. Efficiency of the impact It is already clear that Dimorphos was deflected from its original orbit by the collision with "Dart". Observations from ...