ESA's Hera Spacecraft Captures Rare Images of Mars and Deimos During Flyby

The gravity-assist maneuver brought Hera within 1,000 km of Deimos, providing unprecedented views of the moon's far side while en route to study asteroid Dimorphos.

• On March 12, 2025, ESA's Hera spacecraft conducted a flyby of Mars and its moon Deimos, coming within 5,000 km of Mars and 1,000 km of Deimos.
• Hera captured detailed images of the far side of Deimos, a tidally locked moon whose hidden side is rarely observed, using its advanced imaging instruments.
• The flyby served as a gravity-assist maneuver to adjust Hera's trajectory toward its ultimate destination: the asteroid system Didymos and Dimorphos, which it is scheduled to reach in December 2026.
• Hera's instruments, including the Hyperscout H hyperspectral imager and Thermal Infrared Imager, collected data on Deimos' surface composition and temperature, demonstrating their capabilities for future asteroid studies.
• This mission builds on NASA's 2022 DART mission, which successfully altered Dimorphos' orbit, with Hera set to investigate the impact's aftermath and refine asteroid deflection techniques.

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