Category: Launch

On October 9, 2024, 10:52 UTC (23:52 JST Japan time), the Hera spacecraft was launched from the US Cape Canaveral Space Force Station onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. In this report, I will introduce the details of the Hera launch event sponsored by ESA. Since TIRI is a cold launch (launch with the power off), Hera-Japan will not conduct any operations immediately after the launch. TIRI is scheduled to begin its initial operations three days after the launch, and after the instruments are turned on and it is confirmed that it is operating as expected, it will immediately begin imaging Earth and the Moon as it departs. In the morning of the day before the launch (October 6, local […]

Hera is a European Space Agency (ESA)-led mission to explore a binary asteroid, equipped with the Thermal InfraRed Imager (TIRI) developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The Hera spacecraft launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on October 7, 2024, at 23:52 JST from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA. ESA have reported that the Hera spacecraft initial acquisition and solar array deployment have been completed, and confirmed that the spacecraft has been inserted into the intended trajectory. We would like to express our deep gratitude to everyone involved! Hera has now broken through the major barrier and set out for the binary asteroid, Didymos and Dimorphos. The team will work to deliver many results […]