Hera mission captures images of Mars' moon Deimos

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Hera mission recently captured images of Mars and its moon Deimos during a flyby. This event took place as part of Hera's journey to the binary asteroid system Dimorphos and Didymos. The mission launched in October 2024 and used this flyby as a gravity assist. Deimos is the smaller of Mars' moons, measuring about 7.7 miles in diameter. Its unique, egg-shaped form is often challenging to photograph from Earth because it is tidally locked to Mars. Hera got close to Deimos, capturing images from about 621 miles away and testing its scientific instruments. The spacecraft used its Asteroid Framing Camera to take black and white images of Deimos, which appears dark against the light surface of Mars due to its carbon-rich composition. The camera helps identify features in visible light. In addition, Hera's Hyperscout H imager took pictures of both Mars and Deimos using 25 visible and near-infrared bands. This technology helps scientists understand the minerals present on the moon's surface. Hera also used a Thermal Infrared Imager, which showed Deimos as warmer than Mars, highlighting the lack of an atmosphere on the moon. Hera carries a total of 12 instruments and two cubesats, which will not be deployed until it arrives at its asteroid targets in December 2026. The mission aims to study the impacts from NASA's previous Double Asteroid Redirection Test on Dimorphos. The images and data collected during this flyby will support Hera's objectives and assist future missions, such as Japan's Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, which plans to collect samples from both Deimos and Mars' other moon, Phobos, in 2026.