Hera asteroid mission antenna undergoes sound check

It’s being ready for testing within the acoustic reverberation chamber of the IABG (Industrieanlagen-Betriebsgesellschaft) check centre in Ottobrunn, close to Munich. This course of includes blasting it with launcher-level noise by way of the audio system seen within the wall.

Hera is Europe’s contribution to a global planetary defence experiment, says the company. Following the NASA DART mission’s impression with the Dimorphos asteroid final 12 months – modifying its orbit and sending a plume of particles hundreds of kilometres out into house – Hera will return to Dimorphos to carry out a close-up survey of the crater left by DART.

The mission will even measure Dimorphos’ mass and make-up, together with that of the bigger Didymos asteroid that Dimorphos orbits round.

ESA writes:

“Hera’s 1.13-m diameter Excessive Achieve Antenna will play an important position in mission success, by transmitting high-volume information again to Earth whereas receiving detailed telecommands in flip – with the mission’s Low Achieve Antenna serving as backup for low information price emergency communications.”

“The antenna has beforehand undergone radio frequency analysis at ESA’s Compact Antenna Check Vary on the ESTEC technical centre within the Netherlands earlier than passing on to IABG in Germany for vibration testing then AAC in Austria for a keep in consultant extreme-temperature vacuum situations.”

You possibly can learn extra right here, on the company’s web site.

Picture: European House Company

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