ESA's Hera Spacecraft Uses Mars Gravity Assist En Route to Asteroid Dimorphos; Firefly's Blue Ghost Completes Lunar Mission

ESA's Hera spacecraft, en route to asteroid Dimorphos following NASA's DART mission, utilized a Mars gravity assist, capturing images of Deimos from 1000 km. This maneuver tested Hera's instruments, including the Asteroid Framing Camera, Hyperscout H Hyperspectral Imager, and JAXA's Thermal Infrared Imager. Hera is scheduled to reach the Didymos system by December 2026 after a trajectory correction in February 2026. Meanwhile, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander, part of NASA's CLPS initiative, successfully touched down in the Mare Crisium basin on March 2. The lander activated NASA payloads, collected science data, and operated until five hours after lunar sunset on March 16. Launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on January 15, Blue Ghost delivered 10 NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations, including lunar drilling technology and regolith sample collection.