Summary:
- The European Space Agency's Hera mission is set to launch in 2024 to study the Didymos asteroid system, which includes a larger asteroid and a smaller "moonlet" asteroid.
- The Hera mission aims to study the effects of the DART spacecraft's intentional collision with the smaller Didymos asteroid, which is planned for 2022, to test whether this technique could be used to deflect a potentially hazardous asteroid in the future.
- The Hera mission will gather detailed data about the Didymos system, including the size, mass, and composition of the asteroids, as well as the crater left by the DART impact, to help improve models for asteroid deflection strategies.