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ESA's Hera mission launch (Official broadcast)

Hera, ESA’s first planetary defence mission, is headed to space. Hera will fly to a unique target among the 1.3 million known asteroids of our Solar System – the first body to have had its orbit shi...

Hera Mission

Livestream on X

SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.

Hera

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Asteroid
Mission: Robotic Exploration

Asteroid Space Launch Complex 40 Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA Probability: 60%
B1061 - Atlantic Ocean

Hera is a space mission in development at the European Space Agency in its Space Safety program. Its primary objective is to study the Didymos binary asteroid system that was impacted by DART and contribute to validation of the kinetic impact method to deviate a near-Earth asteroid in a colliding trajectory with Earth. It will measure the size and the morphology of the crater created by and momentum transferred by an artificial projectile impacting an asteroid, which will allow measuring the efficiency of the deflection produced by the impact. It will also analyze the expanding debris cloud caused by the impact.

Telemetry

Launch trajectory and telemetry simulations provided by Flight Club - a rocket launch simulator and orbital trajectory visualiser for all things space!

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • Oct. 7, 2024, 4:18 p.m.

Hera signal acquired and all systems nominal.


Cosmic_Penguin • Oct. 7, 2024, 4:08 p.m.

Spacecraft separation.


Cosmic_Penguin • Oct. 7, 2024, 2:52 p.m.

Liftoff.


Cosmic_Penguin • Oct. 7, 2024, 2:19 p.m.

Updated launch weather, 60% GO.


LL2 • Oct. 7, 2024, 2:11 p.m.

Official Webcast by European Space Agency, ESA has started


Falcon 9

Family:
Configuration: Block 5

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

See Details
Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    1
  • Max Stage
    2
  • Length
    70.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.65 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.2 m
  • Launch Mass
    549.0 T
  • Thrust
    7607.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Falcon 9
  • Family
  • Variant
    Block 5
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Falcon 9 Block 5
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $52000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    22800.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    8300.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Booster Info


B1061

Status: Expended


Type: Core
Flight Proven: Yes
First Flight: November 16, 2020
Last Flight: October 7, 2024
Flights: 23
Landings Attempted: 22
Landings Successful: 22
Previous B1061 Flights

Landing Information

The Falcon 9 booster B1061 is expended during this mission.

Core will be expended.

SpaceX

SpaceX

(SpX)

CEO: Elon Musk Founded: 2002 Successes: 477 Failures: 14 Pending: 123

Agency Type:

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.

INFO WIKI

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From the ESA Blogs.

Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Space Launch Complex 40


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