ESA advances Hera mission preparations despite Falcon 9 grounding

The European Space Agency (ESA) is moving forward with preparations for the Hera asteroid mission, scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 on October 7, despite the rocket being grounded due to a recent anomaly. ESA plans to encapsulate the spacecraft into the rocket's payload fairing on October 3. SpaceX's Falcon 9 has been grounded since September 28 after an upper-stage issue caused it to reenter outside a designated area. The FAA has mandated an investigation, but launches may resume if public safety is not compromised. ESA officials remain optimistic about the launch timeline. Hera will study the asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos, following NASA's DART mission, which impacted Dimorphos in 2022. The mission aims to assess the impact's efficiency and observe surface changes, using 12 instruments and two cubesats for close-up observations.