Hera Returns First Close-Up Image of Didymos System

ESA's Hera spacecraft has reached Didymos and Dimorphos and returned the first close-up image of the Didymos system. The announcement date given for detailed images of both asteroids is 2026-11-25.

Hera is linked to ESA and ASI. It has reached Didymos and Dimorphos, and the first close-up image of the Didymos system is recorded as a milestone.

Dimorphos orbits Didymos. The recorded measurements are 151 meters for Dimorphos and 780 meters for Didymos.

NASA's DART impacted Dimorphos on 2022-09-26 at 6.1 kilometers per second, and LiciaCube observed the impact.

The Dimorphos orbit around Didymos is recorded as the first human-modified orbit. The test result for Dimorphos is 33 minutes, and that result was much higher than predictions.

Italian organizations appear in Hera's payload record: ASI is linked to Hera, while Milani and VISTA are listed payloads. Milani is tied to Tyvak International and Torino, with Agenzia Spaziale Italiana funding, and it covers surface composition and dust; VISTA is tied to Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica for dust analysis. INAF is also partnered with ASPECT and TIRI.

Hera's listed hardware includes a deep space transponder, solar panels, two wings with three panels each, 14 square meters of panel area, 1600 cells, and a Spacecraft Monitoring Camera associated with TSD Space.

For readers tracking NASA and ESA space activity, this matters because the DART impact test is now paired with Hera's arrival at the same asteroid pair. The recorded 33-minute result, much higher than predictions, and Hera's link to the kinetic impact deflection method make Didymos a concrete case of human modification of an asteroid orbit.

Hera is preparing a close investigation of Didymos and Dimorphos, and its status is tied to the kinetic impact deflection method.