SpaceX launches European asteroid probe as hurricane weather nears

Dodging stormy weather ahead of Hurricane MiltonSpaceX launched the European Space Agency’s $398 million Hera probe on Monday on a follow-up flight to find out exactly how the moon orbiting the small asteroid was affected by the asteroid. The high-speed impact of NASA’s DART probe in 2022.

The launch is in doubt until the last moment, with thick clouds and rain across Florida’s Space Coast, defended by moisture pulled by the hurricane intensifying in the west.

But when it came time for the launch, conditions improved enough to meet launch safety rules and NASA managers cleared the rocket for liftoff. Right on time, at 10:52 a.m. EDT, the Falcon 9’s first stage engine fired with a burst and the booster lifted off smoothly from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The liftoff came just in time for several hundred European Space Agency managers, scientists, engineers and journalists who flew to Florida to watch the launch.

Hurricane Milton is expected to bring it strong wind and heavy rain to the Florida Space Coast by Wednesday, estimates that asked NASA to stand down in plans to start a European mission of $5.2 billion agency to Jupiter and the ice-covered moon Europa.

However, NASA announced late Sunday that the rocket and its precious payload will remain in the SpaceX hangar at the base of launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center until Milton passes and security personnel have a chance to inspect the spaceport facility for signs of damage.

The weather also affected NASA’s plans to bring three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut back to Earth after 217 days spent on the International Space Station.

Crew 8 commander Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps and cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin had planned to release Monday.

But NASA announced on Sunday that the launch would be delayed until at least Thursday due to unexpected weather. Crew Dragon ferries require calm winds and seas in the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean to allow safe splashing.

Missions to asteroids and their moons

In the meantime, despite a bleak early forecast, SpaceX was able to take advantage of a break in the weather to begin Hera’s two-year journey to the asteroid Didymos and its small moon Dimorphos.

At Impact of DART transform the orbit of 11 hours and 55 minutes of the 495-foot-wide Dimorphos, shaving 31 minutes off the time needed to complete the trip around the parent asteroid Didymos. The test confirmed the possibility of destroying a threatening asteroid before any damaging Earth impact.

But a successful deflection will depend on a variety of factors, including when the threat is detected — the further away, the better — and the composition of the asteroid.

ESA’s Hera probe will orbit the Didymos system and study the two asteroids in detail with 11 high-tech cameras and other instruments, using two small “cubesat” satellites to study the interior structure of Dimorphos, establish the DART impact crater, the moon’s internal structure and composition.

The goal of the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment, or AIDA, is to better understand the techniques that may be needed to prevent an Earth impact.

“The good news is no dinosaur killers are coming to Earth in the next 100 years,” said Richard Moissl, director of ESA’s Planetary Defense Office. “We are safe from that scenario, but there are smaller ones, especially at this dangerous scale, 50 meters and up, where it really threatens human life on the ground.”

The first step in planetary defense is detection, he said, followed by detailed observations to determine the asteroid’s orbit and determine whether it will collide with Earth.

“For small objects, civil protection is the way to go,” he said. “But 50 meters (160 feet) and larger, you really want this thing to not hit Earth, not threaten population centers.

“But again, it’s always good to know what you’re up against. And this is where Hera and Dart come into play”.

Unlike most Falcon 9 flights, there are no plans to recover the rocket’s first stage. To give Hera the speed it needs to break Earth’s gravity, the Falcon 9’s two stages are programmed to use up all of their propellant, leaving no reserve for a powered first-stage landing.

The flight plan calls for two upper stage engine firings before Hera is cleared to fly on its own one hour and 16 minutes after liftoff.

To reach Didymos and Dimorphos, Hera will need to launch a deep space launch in November to prepare for a gravity-assisted flyby of Mars in March, cruising within 3,700 miles of the red planet. Along the way, the spacecraft will pass within 620 miles of the small martian moon Deimos.

“By swinging the gravitational field of Mars in the direction of its motion, the spacecraft gains increased speed for forward travel,” said Michael Kueppers, ESA project scientist, on the agency’s website.

“This close encounter is not part of Hera’s core mission, but we will have some science instruments activated. It gives us another chance to align our instruments and potentially make some scientific discoveries.”

After another space maneuver in February 2026, Hera will finally enter orbit around Didymos next October. The mission is expected to last approximately six months.