NASA’s Hera Mission Captures Exclusive Images of Mars’ Elusive Mini Moon

The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft recently completed a close flyby of Mars, capturing images of the planet’s lesser-known second moon, Deimos.

“We had previously tested these instruments when Hera left Earth, but this was the first occasion we utilized them to study a small, distant moon about which we still have much to learn,” explained Michael Kueppers, the mission scientist for Hera.

Ian Carnelli, the Hera Project Manager at the European Space Agency, discussed the mission’s details during an ESA hosted webcast.

Hera Mission Captures Elusive Images of Mars’ Smaller Moon

“It was a very short night last night, I believe we managed only about 3 hours of sleep,” Carnelli said. “However, as we passed Mars, we were able to capture over a thousand stunning images.”

Patrick Michel, Hera’s Principal Investigator from the University Côte d’Azur in Nice, France, emphasized that “any chance to observe Deimos is extremely valuable,” noting that there are significantly more images of Mars’s larger moon, Phobos, than of Deimos.

It is important to note that Deimos, Mars’s dust-enshrouded second moon, is tidally locked with the planet. This synchronization means that the same side of Deimos always faces Mars, and until now, this was the only side that had been photographed.

Recently, however, the mission team successfully captured images of the side of Deimos that faces space.

Julia de León, from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and leader of Hera’s Hyperscout-H multispectral imager team, stated that these are the “first images captured of this side [of Deimos] at these specific wavelengths.”

The Hyperscout-H instrument, which aids in determining the chemical makeup of the moon, allows us to “gather data about the potential minerals present on Deimos’ surface,” she added.

While Hera’s main objective is to rendezvous with the asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos in 2026, “Mars was perfectly positioned to help us reach Didymos while conserving fuel,” Carnelli explained. “We essentially used Mars’ gravity to slingshot us further into space, tapping into a bit of the planet’s own energy.”

This trajectory adjustment to fly by Deimos was challenging and required some convincing to execute, but ultimately, it proved to be highly beneficial.

Clearly, the effort was worthwhile.