SpaceX, ESA launch Hera spacecraft to study impact of NASA's DART mission

Oct. 7 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched the European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft on Monday to see if a test NASA performed in 2022 to knock the moonlet off its orbit from an asteroid actually worked.

The launch of the SpaceX rocket was in doubt all morning because of thick clouds produced by a weather system associated with eastward-approaching Hurricane Milton. That system produced rain along the coast, but the clouds cleared enough for controllers to give a go for launch.

Now the $398 million probe is on its way to the asteroid Didymos and its small orbiting moon Dimorphos.

The mission aims to chase down the Didymos asteroid and its moon Dimorphos after NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test intentionally struck the flying space rock two years ago to see if it was possible to knock it off its path.

"It's been 18 years we've been working to put this mission together so that you can imagine our emotions, not only mine, but the whole team," Ian Carnelli, project manager for the Hera project.

Hera is expected to reach the asteroid and its moon in late 2026 and will evaluate the size and depth of the crater that the DART collision caused and how efficient was the impact.

Two cubesats also will examine details of Dimorphos, including its surface minerals, internal structure and gravity.