October 2024 – Hera-JAPAN Project

2024-10-142025-01-23Operations

Hera captured its first images of Earth and the Moon successfully!

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 […]

2024-10-122025-01-23Launch

Behind the scenes of the launch event!

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 […]

2024-10-102025-01-23Launch

Hera successfully lifted off on its journey!!

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 […]

2024-10-032024-10-03Development

Hera-JAPAN Flight Readiness Review accomplished!!

JAXA conducts a review by experts when reaching a project milestone to ensure that the developments are being carried out appropriately and whether it is OK to proceed to the next stage. The Hera-JAPAN Project Flight Readiness Review at JAXA, was held on September 17 to 30, 2024. The Review confirmed that the Japanese side’s preparations for launch were complete, and it was deemed appropriate to continue to the next phase (launch and initial operation phase). The TIRI development that began in 2019 has reached a turning point, and the launch of Hera space craft is finally approaching. The TIRI development team is now preparing for the initial checkout, which is scheduled for a few days after the launch. We […]