ESA's space probe performs Mars flyby for planetary defense
The European Space Agency (ESA) presents images gathered by its space probe Hera on March 13, 2025, which performed a flyby of Mars a day earlier. The flyby of Mars enabled the space probe to be 'slingshot' in the direction of its final destination, the asteroids Dimorphos and the larger Didymos, said the project's manager, Ian Carnelli. The purpose of ESA’s Hera asteroid mission is to model out a defense system and make asteroid deflection into a 'well understood and repeatable technique,' according to ESA. Carnelli, ESA project manager, says there are more than 100 million asteroids in the solar system, of which 30,000 are currently tracked as potentially dangerous.
ESA/REUTERS
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The European Space Agency (ESA) presents images gathered by its space probe Hera on March 13, 2025, which performed a flyby of Mars a day earlier. The flyby of Mars enabled the space probe to be 'slingshot' in the direction of its final destination, the asteroids Dimorphos and the larger Didymos, said the project's manager, Ian Carnelli. The purpose of ESA’s Hera asteroid mission is to model out a defense system and make asteroid deflection into a 'well understood and repeatable technique,' according to ESA. Carnelli, ESA project manager, says there are more than 100 million asteroids in the solar system, of which 30,000 are currently tracked as potentially dangerous.
ESA/REUTERS
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NewsTranscript
00:00with the lead of the asteroid framing camera and worked hard.
00:29We just saw a quick shot on it.
00:33It's a long one.
00:37No, it's the right trajectory.
00:40Asteroid impact deflection assessment, or AIDA.
00:44And in this context, NASA's data spacecraft impacted.
00:49Switch off the emergency alarm.
00:56Almost all over the world.
01:02My colleague Simona.
01:09It's very, very important, yeah, because this is planetary defense, pure and simple.
01:15I'm here because I enjoy the science anyway and I enjoy making the pretty pictures,
01:19but really this is serious business because sooner or later there will be an asteroid
01:24which will be on an impact course with the Earth.
01:27And this is how we become informed to deal with that.
01:30Otherwise we get mass destruction on the Earth at some point.
01:33So very important.
01:35Because this is absolutely amazing that ESA, you know,
01:38in four years and already have.
02:08So the ARA mission is a fascinating project to go into deep space
02:24and test an asteroid deflection technique.
02:27Not only on this specific asteroid called Didymos,
02:30but to be able to model the defense system so that we can use it to any other object in the future.
02:37So we're going to gather scientific data very close by and improve our understanding of asteroids
02:43so that one day, if needed, we can deflect them.
02:47So here to reach the asteroid Didymos requires a lot of energy.
02:51And to save propellants, save some energy,
02:54we use the gravity of Mars to pull us and slingshot us and send us far away
02:59so that the spacecraft can be smaller and cheaper.
03:02So this is what happened yesterday.
03:04And we have done it in a way that we could fly very close to one of its moons called Didymos
03:08and see it for the first time from a special point of view that was never seen before.
03:13And this helps us to understand the origin of this moon.
03:34NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
04:04NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
04:08So during the flyby here, I took more than a thousand images.
04:12We just collected them last night.
04:14We have processed some of them that we are showing today for the first time.
04:18And we're looking at it in different wavelengths,
04:20which gives us understanding of the composition of the moon with respect to Mars.
04:25And the scientists are now analyzing the data to try to understand
04:29what are the differences between the planet and the moon
04:32and give us some clues, some understanding of its origin.
04:53So there are more than 100 million asteroids in the solar system.
04:56Some of these come very close to the Earth.
04:59And sometimes in the history of Earth has been impacted by disasters.
05:02Today we know more than 90% of the dinosaur killer ones.
05:06And we are not scared about those.
05:08We know that none of these objects will impact the Earth.
05:11But the small asteroids, 100 meter size, these are very difficult to see.
05:15And currently we're tracking 30,000 of them that are potentially dangerous.
05:19And you never know when this is going to happen.
05:21So we have to have an insurance policy for planet Earth.
05:25And this is what we're doing with AI.
05:27We're validating a technique so that we can be safe in the future.
05:57NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology