Countdown to Hera: launch campaign begins at ESOC

ESA’s Hera mission is due to launch in October this year on a quest to survey the Didymos binary asteroid system and study the results of the first-ever test of asteroid deflection.

The spacecraft is currently undergoing its final system tests in the Netherlands in preparation for transport to its launch site in the USA. Meanwhile, in Germany, Hera’s Mission Control Team recently began launch preparations of their own.