ESA Hera Probe Approaches DART Asteroid

The European Space Agency launched the Hera mission on October 7, 2024, to inspect damage from NASA's September 2022 DART strike. The spacecraft performed a braking maneuver on October 15 and will reach the binary asteroid system in early November. Hera will deploy cubesats Milani and Juventas in January 2027 to study the asteroid's composition and interior structure.