SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE 10 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Researchers Julia de León and Javier Licandro from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) are taking part in the HERA mission, launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) from Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA) last Monday.
This marks the inaugural European planetary defence mission, which, alongside NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), aims to investigate the effects of an asteroid deflection method known as the “kinetic impactor.”
The DART spacecraft collided with the smaller asteroid, Dimorphos, within the Didymos binary system on September 26, 2022, modifying its orbital period of 12 hours by a total of 33 minutes.
HERA is expected to arrive in the system towards the end of 2026 to conduct a comprehensive analysis following the impact, as reported by the IAC.
The IAC Solar System Group, under Julia de León’s leadership, has been involved in the mission from the very beginning.
“We commenced our work by assisting in the identification of the most suitable asteroid for testing this technique, making observations using the telescopes of the Canary Islands Observatories (OCAN), and we are currently coordinating ground-based observations of Didymos, including images acquired with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC),” remarks Javier Licandro.
The mission’s goal is to scrutinise in detail the alterations to Dimorphos following the DART impact, specifically whether a crater was formed or if the asteroid was deformed, investigating its internal structure and the potential effects on Didymos, the larger of the two asteroids.
Julia de León, alongside Adriano Campo Bagatin from the University of Alicante, represent the only researchers from Spanish institutions on the mission’s scientific team.
Julia de León is also responsible for one of the instruments on the spacecraft, HyperScout-H.
This instrument is a hyperspectral camera, equipped with a detector covered by a thin layer of material containing a total of 25 interference filters, arranged in a 5×5 pixel pattern.
“This allows us to capture images with high spatial resolution where we can discern surface details of the asteroids (craters, rocks, fissures) as well as colour information that enables us to identify the various minerals and their degree of alteration,” Julia de León explains.
The data gathered by ‘HyperScout-H’, in conjunction with information from the other instruments aboard HERA, will facilitate the creation of composition maps and identification of regions affected by space weather or the impact of DART.
“Understanding the composition of these objects, alongside their internal structure, is a crucial aspect of the planetary defence strategy when assessing the implications of a potential collision with Earth,” adds De León.