The Radio Science Experiment on Hera, Juventas and Milani
Abstract Hera, the European Space Agency’s first planetary defence mission, complements NASA’s DART mission as part of the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment collaboration. Its primary objective is to conduct a detailed post-impact analysis of the Didymos binary asteroid system, with a focus on Dimorphos, the smaller moon impacted by DART. Hera will assess the effectiveness of the kinetic impactor technique for asteroid deflection while investigating the physical and compositional properties of Dimorphos. The mission’s radio science experimental setup includes an X-band radio link enabling two-way range and range-rate measurements as well as Delta-DOR observations, complemented by additional data from inter-satellite ranging with the Juventas and Milani CubeSats, optical navigation imaging, and altimetry. These measurements will enhance the accuracy of the post-impact data analysis. This paper summarizes the existing literature, outlines the experimental configuration and mission operations during the cruise phase and at the Didymos system, and discusses the expected scientific outcomes of Hera’s radio science experiment.
Authors
- Paolo Concari
- Maddalena Mochi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7319-0392)
- Daniel J. Scheeres (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0558-3842)
- Patrick Michel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0884-1993)
- Marco Zannoni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4151-9656)
- Alfonso Caldiero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1624-0581)
- Michael Kueppers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5666-8582)
- Giacomo Tommei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9593-613X)
- S. Le Maistre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9524-9479)
- Riccardo Lasagni Manghi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5733-2554)
- Giacomo Lari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0868-8498)
- Edoardo Gramigna (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8776-7922)
- Ryan S. Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9896-4585)
- Özgür Karatekin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0153-7291)
- Paolo Tortora (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9259-7673)
- Roberto Paoli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7922-9881)
Institutions
- University of Pisa (IT)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Université Côte d'Azur (FR)
- Royal Observatory of Belgium (BE)
- European Space Astronomy Centre (ES)
- Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (FR)
- European Space Research and Technology Centre (NL)
- University of Bologna (IT)
- UCLouvain (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Space Science Reviews
- Published
- 2025-12-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-025-01253-8
- Primary Topic
- Astro and Planetary Science
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- California Institute of Technology
- Università di Bologna