ESA’s asteroid explorer Hera has taken its first images using three of its instruments which will be used to observe and study the binary asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos.
Following the successful launch on October 7, 2024, Hera’s onboard instruments were switched on, and initial checks were conducted. From October 10 to 11, the Hera asteroid deck (+Z face) which houses the spacecraft’s instruments was pointed towards Earth, and the instruments successfully captured their first images of Earth and the Moon from distance of 1.4 to1.6 million kilometers.
Figure 1: Hera’s asteroid deck. B is the thermal infrared camera TIRI. (©ESA)
Thermal Infrared Imager TIRI
Hera’s thermal infrared Imager TIRI captured images of Earth and the Moon from approximately 1.4 million kilometers. Earth is the center of the image and oriented with the North Pole toward the top. The image captured the east coast of the United States and the Atlantic Ocean area. The Moon can be seen in the top right corner of the image.
TIRI will image the asteroids Dimorphos and Didymos in mid-infrared wavelengths and measure the temperature distribution. By deriving the thermal inertia of each region on the asteroid’s surface, physical quantities such as surface roughness, grain size, and porosity can be investigated. TIRI was provided by JAXA (manufactured by Meisei Electric Co., Ltd.) and inherited from mid-infrared camera TIR on onboard Hayabusa2 spacecraft.
Figure 2: Earth and Moon image taken by TIRI (©JAXA/ESA)
In addition, another images of the Earth and the Moon were also taken by the optical camera and the multicolor spectroscopic camera HS-H.
Figure 3: Earth and Moon image taken by AFC (©ESA)
Figure 4: Earth and Moon image taken by HS-H (©ESA)
2024/10/14 Hera-JAPAN team