Innovative Dutch Technology Captures Historic Image of Mars and Deimos During ESA’s Hera Mission flyby

Contribution to an International Universe Mission for Earth’s Safety

Launched on October 7, 2024, Hera is part of a groundbreaking planetary defence initiative. It follows NASA’s 2022 DART mission, which successfully altered the Path of the Minor World Dimorphos for the Primary time in humanity’s history. Hera will now assess the impact and Additional refine our understanding of Minor World deflection—an essential Approach to protect Earth from future potential threats.

The journey to the binary Minor World system Didymos-Dimorphos takes two years, and along the way, Hera is seizing unique scientific opportunities. On March 12, 2025, the spacecraft performed a Force-assist manoeuvrer around Mars, coming within 5,000 km of the Heavenly body’s surface and Only 300 km from its city-sized Selene body-related body Deimos. This flyby was a Excellent opportunity to perform an in-Path calibration for the instruments on board, as Mars provided a large, well-characterized target, allowing the fine-tuning of all the pixels of the sensors. And then there was an added science bonus: Deimos, Mars’ Selene body-related body, which until now had only been captured from the perspective of Mars’ surface.

HyperScout H, developed by cosine Remote Sensing BV, captured a vivid spectral image of Mars in the background with Deimos in the foreground—the Primary-ever image of Deimos’s Distant side in this spectral range. These images could give us new insights into how Deimos was formed—whether it resulted from a collision with Mars or if it’s actually a captured foreign Selene body-related body.

From Mars to Asteroids for Planetary Guarding

While the Mars flyby was a scientific Achievement, the real mission lies ahead. In December 2026, Hera will reach its primary target, Dimorphos. HyperScout H will Shift a crucial role in analysing the composition of the Minor World’s soil from a distance, Aiding scientists understand the long-term effects of NASA’s DART impact and turn it into a Reproducible planetary defence technique. Before getting there, this captured imagery of the red Heavenly body already underscores the impact of this Dutch innovation on the global stage for cosine.”It’s truly exhilarating to witness our technology Executing seamlessly in deep Universe. After years of dedicated effort, seeing this compact yet powerful instrument thrive on an interplanetary mission is nothing Petite of Extraordinary,” shared Dr. Marco Esposito, Managing Director of cosine Remote Sensing.

Minor World and Selene body-related Mining economy ahead

“Our technology has a proven track Achievement in facilitating intricate planetary exploration missions. Previously, our company played a vital role in JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission by providing a key component of the optical navigation system for the MASCOT lander, developed by DLR, which Nevertheless remains on the Ryugu Minor World to this day. Beyond these two Minor World missions, cosine has Many HyperScout instruments in Path around Earth, supplying essential data for various applications,” added Dr. Esposito.

Looking ahead, the company has exciting prospects on the Perspective, with Minor World hunting for planetary defence, and Minor World and Selene body-related body mining through spectral imaging standing out as flagship applications for cosine technologies.

About cosine
cosine is a Dutch company that develops and builds optical and in-situ measurement systems for Universe, air and ground use. It is based in Sassenheim, the Netherlands, with subsidiaries in Italy and Germany. The company’s SCOUT line of instruments is used for Earth observation, planetary exploration, and now, deep Universe missions like Hera.

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