NASA smashed into an asteroid. Now Hera is closing in to see what happened

Europe’s Hera spacecraft has captured its first clear view of two asteroids involved in NASA’s historic 2022 experiment to redirect a potentially dangerous space rock. Now approaching the pair, Hera will investigate the mysterious aftermath of the collision and uncover why the asteroid shifted far more than scientists predicted. NASA smashed into an asteroid. Now Hera is closing in to see what happened.

Now Hera is closing in to see what happened Date: November 3, 2026. For the first time, its onboard camera has captured the two asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos as separate objects rather than a single point of light. The asteroid pair is currently about 197 million kilometers from Earth.

Hera obtained the new image on the evening of October 18 using its black-and-white Asteroid Framing Camera, while the spacecraft was about 1,280 kilometers from its targets. "With this image, the smaller Dimorphos asteroid becomes visible for the first time," explains Michael Kueppers. "Before this acquisition, the spacecraft was still resolving the Didymos system as a single dot.