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7. A follow-up mission will investigate the scene from up-close

Artistic depiction of HERA scanning Dimorphos with a laser altimeter.
Artistic depiction of HERA scanning Dimorphos with a laser altimeter. Image: ESA – ScienceOffice.org

Ground stations should get a good bead on changes made to the binary system, but we’ll really know for sure once the joint NASA-ESA HERA mission gets underway.

With an expected launch in 2024, the HERA spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at Didymos in January 2027. Once at the scene of the crime, HERA will inspect the system from up-close, measuring the effects of the impact and gathering images of Dimorphos’s new crater.

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