{"id":2241122,"date":"2026-11-06T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2241122"},"modified":"2026-11-06T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T07:00:00","slug":"hera-spacecraft-grabs-first-close-up-image-of-nasas-asteroid-crash-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2241122","title":{"rendered":"Hera spacecraft grabs first close-up image of NASA’s asteroid crash site"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/helios-i.mashable.com\/imagery\/articles\/06BOMIWgdPLCCPcpjOWB0aQ\/hero-image.fill.size_1200x675.v1793915286.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Home<\/a>><\/span>Science<\/a>><\/span>Space<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

New photo reveals an asteroid view that a NASA spacecraft never saw<\/h1>\n
‘Like looking at a whole new world.’<\/div>\n
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\n \u00a0By\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elisha Sauers<\/a><\/p>\n
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\"Mashable<\/p>\n
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Elisha Sauers<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n Elisha Sauers writes about space for Mashable, taking deep dives into NASA’s moon and Mars missions<\/a>, chatting up astronauts<\/a> and history-making discoverers<\/a>, and jetting above the clouds<\/a>. Through 17 years of reporting, she’s covered a variety of topics, including health, business, and government, with a penchant for public records requests. She previously worked for The Virginian-Pilot<\/em> in Norfolk, Virginia, and The Capital<\/em> in Annapolis, Maryland. Her work has earned numerous state awards, including the Virginia Press Association’s top honor, Best in Show<\/u><\/a>,\u00a0and national recognition<\/u><\/a> for narrative storytelling. For each year she has covered space, Sauers has won National Headliner Awards<\/u><\/a>, including first place for her Sex in Space<\/a> series. Send space tips and story ideas to [email\u00a0protected]<\/span><\/u><\/a> or text 443-684-2489. Follow her on X at @elishasauers<\/u><\/a>.\n <\/div>\n

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\"Hera<\/p>\n
The European Space Agency’s Hera mission takes its first close-up image of asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos following NASA’s 2022 DART planetary defense mission strike. <\/span>Credit: ESA <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Europe’s Hera spacecraft<\/u><\/a> just took its first close-up picture of Didymos and Dimorphos, the asteroid pair NASA<\/u><\/a> used for target practice in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The European Space Agency mission is designed to do a sort of crash scene investigation following NASA’s DART mission<\/u><\/a>, the first planetary defense rehearsal. DART, which stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, involved sending a 1,300-pound, refrigerator-size spacecraft straight for Dimorphos<\/u><\/a>, the smaller asteroid orbiting Didymos, to see if a strike could change its trajectory in space<\/u><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The spacecraft’s hip check to Dimorphos seems to have worked<\/u><\/a>, lopping 33 minutes off its orbit. But the change was more significant than scientists predicted, leaving open questions on the extent of the impact and why it unfolded the way it did.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The new black-and-white photo shows Didymos, which measures about a half-mile wide, from about 37 miles away. Shadow hides most of Dimorphos, its 500-foot-wide battered moonlet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hera’s view shows the side of Didymos that NASA’s spacecraft never saw before the crash. The “backside” looks remarkably different, according to the team, with boulders, craters, and grooves. It also shows the continuation of a ridge that wraps around the asteroid’s middle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The first thing we said was ‘Wow!'” said Patrick Michel, Hera’s principal investigator, in a statement<\/u><\/a>. “This feels like looking at a whole new world.”<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO:<\/span>Oh, snap. Martian volcanoes might actually still be alive.<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

Some of these features may come from debris the crash blasted across the half-mile gap between Dimorphos and Didymos, said mission scientist Michael Kueppers. The space agency will release detailed images of both asteroids on Nov. 25.<\/p>\n

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The robotic spacecraft, about the size of a small car, flew for two years to reach the asteroids, which now sit about 122 million miles from Earth.<\/p>\n

Scientists hope Hera’s findings will help turn “kinetic impact” \u2014 ramming a spacecraft into an asteroid to nudge it \u2014 from a one-time experiment<\/u><\/a> into a reliable planetary defense tool, if Earth ever needs it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Want more science<\/u><\/a><\/em> and tech news delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter<\/u><\/a><\/em> today.<\/em><\/p>\n

When DART hit, it blasted rock and dust into space, and that spray pushed the asteroid like a rocket’s exhaust. Scientists call this extra kickback<\/u><\/a> the “beta factor<\/u><\/a>,” and Hera will help measure it. That number could tell future mission planners how hard they’d need to punch a killer asteroid (unlike Dimorphos, which posed no threat) to move it out of Earth’s way.<\/p>\n

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