Hera’s mission has gained a sense of urgency since scientists found an asteroid called 2024 YR4 last year that currently has an estimated 3% chance of striking earth in 2032.
Carnelli has been working on planetary defense projects and specifically defense against asteroids for 20 years.
“We are getting lots of media requests and a lot of people asking what are we going to do? Are we worried?” he said. “And today, I honestly for the first time in my life, totally say to everybody that we are absolutely calm. We absolutely know what to do. Not only do we know what to do, but it’s not a theoretical solution anymore.”
That’s thanks to the Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission (DART), completed in October of 2022. NASA’s DART spacecraft lightly changed the oribit of Dimorphos, the moon of the Dimorphos binary asteroid, in a measurable way, demonstrating the kinetic impactor deflation technique.
Hera’s job, Carnelli said, is to reach Didymos and gather all the necessary scientfic data to turn this one-off experiment into a validated and repeatable technique. To do so, it will release two shoebox-sized satellites, known as CubeSats, that will get closer to the asteroid, and perhaps even land on it. These “nanosatellites,” called Milani and Juventas, are tasked with learning more about the result of the impact and the structure of the asteroid.
A collaborative effort, Hera is a model of international cooperation, Carnelli said. “We have 18 European countries plus Japan, plus the United States, and scientists all over the world,” he explained. “With all the wars and the difficult times we’re going through, I think this is a good example of what humanity can achieve when working together.”
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