On March 12, 2025, the HERA probe, carrying the MILANI cubsat, which integrates the VISTA sensor developed by CNR-IIA together with INAF-IAPS (PI of the project) and the Polytechnic University of Milan, found itself just 300 km from Deimos, the small dusty moon of the planet Mars (20.068 km away from the surface of Mars and 12,4 km in diameter).
In the same month, through a gravitational maneuver (flyby of Mars), the probe was sent towards its final destination which it will reach at the end of 2026.
Il 31 October 2025 The "VISTA" instrument will be turned on, this time not only for a functional check (as has already been successfully done on other occasions) but also to measure contamination due to possible compounds present inside the HERA probe. These measurements will be similar to those it will need to perform once it is outside the probe and in the vicinity (tens of kilometers). from the asteroid Didymos.
Photo credits: ESA-F. Zonno – European Space Agency (ESA)
CNR TEAM:
Emiliano Zampetti, CNR – Scientific Coordinator
Francesca Battistelli, Project Manager
Antonella Macagnano, Collaborating scientist
Alessandro Capocecera, Technician
Marco Conti, Research Fellow in Materials Engineering
Marco Segreto, Project Dissemination Responsible