NASA smashed into an asteroid. Now Hera is closing in to see what happened

from ScienceDaily

Europe’s Hera spacecraft has captured its first clear view of two asteroids involved in NASA’s historic 2022 experiment to redirect a potentially dangerous space rock. Now approaching the pair, Hera will investigate the mysterious aftermath of the collision and uncover why the asteroid shifted far more than scientists predicted.

explained

Hera is the first planetary defence spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). Its primary mission objective is to study the Didymos binary asteroid system that was impacted in 2022 by NASA's DART spacecraft, contributing to validation of the kinetic impact method to deviate a near-Earth asteroid from a colliding trajectory with Earth. Hera has a mass of 1,128 kg (2,487 lb) and carries a payload of cameras, an altimeter, and a spectrometer. It is carrying two small CubeSat spacecraft, called Milani and Juventas. The spacecraft was launched in October 2024 by Falcon 9 and arrived at the double asteroid in November 2026. Hera is the first mission of ESA's Space Safety Programme.

From Wikipedia: Hera (space mission) (CC BY-SA 4.0) ↗

so what

DART was the first real test of planetary defence, and it worked better than expected, but without close-up data scientists cannot be sure how to repeat it on a different asteroid. Hera supplies that missing evidence.

fun fact

Dimorphos's orbit around Didymos was shortened by about 32 minutes by DART's impact.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗