Go, Hera go!
On October 7th, the Hera planetary defense mission began its journey according to plan. The spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral in the USA, on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle, and it is now heading towards its surprising destination: the binary asteroid system known as Didymos.
The launching of Hera represents significant progress in terms of humanity’s ability to protect itself against potential impacts by asteroids. Hera is a space mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), and its main objective is to study the impact that NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) probe had on the Didymos binary asteroid system in 2022, and specifically on its moon known as Dimorphos. This is the ESA’s first mission conceived for the purpose of planetary defense, and it is part of the international NASA-ESA collaboration known as Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA), which has been designed as a way to study asteroid redirection as a means of protecting the Earth against potential impacts.
GMV is deeply involved in this unprecedented mission, with the company’s contribution going back to 2018, when the focus was on an earlier orbiter known as AIM. Since then, GMV has been leading an international industry consortium made up of participants from Spain, Portugal, Romania, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Ireland. This group is now responsible for designing and developing the mission’s guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system, including the part involving the mission’s proximity analysis.
The GNC system is considered to be the heart of any space mission. In this case, GMV has developed a groundbreaking autonomous GNC for Hera, after taking into account factors such as the difficulties that the delay in deep-space communications can cause for the approach and navigation operations, the unusual characteristics of asteroids, and the uncertainty of the unexplored environment.
GMV’s team in Romania has performed the mission analysis studies and developed the GNC system for Juventas, which is the CubeSat responsible for measuring the Dimorphos moon’s gravity field and internal structure. Juventas will also be performing satellite-to-satellite radioscience experiments and will carry out a low-frequency radar study of the asteroid to reveal its interior. Finally, there will be a landing on Dimorphos, with measurement of the forces produced during touchdown.
In addition, GMV is collaborating with France’s Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) in the city of Toulouse, to develop the CubeSat Flight Dynamics and Science Operations Centre, which will be responsible for control, planning, and execution of the Hera mission’s CubeSats, including Juventas.
GMV has also been involved in the design and development of Hera’s operational simulator, while also providing support by collaborating with the ESA at its operations center (ESOC) located in Darmstadt, Germany. Four team members from GMV are making an active on-site contribution to the most critical mission operations taking place just after launch, which is when the spacecraft’s guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system will be started up for the first time. This support will continue through the end of October, which is when Hera will be executing its first interplanetary maneuver, putting it on a path towards its destination, Didymos.
Finally, GMV has an integrated team that provides software support to the mission control system, as well as being part of the flight dynamics team, which supports the ongoing process of trajectory optimization and the calculation of the required orbit and attitude control commands.
For GMV, taking part in this important and groundbreaking mission is a source of great pride and satisfaction. The CNG team for Hera has already demonstrated the feasibility of developing a complex system within the designated time period and with the resources allocated, which is all a reflection of the team’s effort and dedication. This achievement has been recognized by the mission’s other partners, which have emphasized the essential nature of GMV’s contributions.
Not only does the Hera mission represent a breakthrough in planetary defense technology, it will also be collecting invaluable scientific information about the formation and evolution of our solar system. With this launch, Europe is reaffirming its position at the forefront of space exploration and scientific technology.
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