Hera Captures Images of Mars and Its Moon Deimos

Hera Captures Images of Mars and Its Moon Deimos

On March 12, 2025, Hera — ESA’s first Space Safety mission — came to within 5,000 km of the surface of Mars and 1,000 km of Deimos. While performing the flyby, the spacecraft made the first use of its payload for scientific purposes beyond Earth and the Moon. Activating a trio of instruments, Hera imaged the Martian surface as well as the face of Deimos.

Mars appears light blue in this near-infrared image from Hera’s Hyperscout H hyperspectral imager, acquired during the mission’s March 12 gravity-assist flyby of Mars, with Deimos seen ahead of it. The spacecraft was approximately 1,000 km from the 12.4-km-diameter Deimos when this image was acquired. In the background a variety of Martian features can be observed. At the top of the image is the bright Terra Sabaea region, close to the Martian equator, outlined by darker regions about it, with the 450 km-diameter Huygen crater to the bottom right of Terra Sabaea and the 460-km-diameter Schiaparelli crater to its left. To the bottom right of the Martian disk is Hellas Basin, among the largest known impact craters in the Solar System with a diameter of 2,300 km and a depth of more than 7 km. Image credit: ESA.

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