Abdullah Al-Haqim 
The “Hera” probe, heading to the asteroid Dimorfos, near Mars, took a rare pictures of its “Dimos” moon, according to the European Space Agency announced Thursday.
“Hera” was launched in October, and will not reach its final goal, 11 million kilometers from the ground in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, except at the end of 2026.
The probe approached the red planet on Wednesday to take advantage of gravity.
The mission analyst (studying and following the mission and evaluating it) Pablo Monoz said during a press conference that using the planet’s attractiveness, “We accelerated the probe and thus adjusting its course while providing large quantities of fuel.”
The probe approached up to 5600 km from the surface of Mars, at an amazing speed of 33480 km per hour for about an hour.
On the other hand, the probe allowed for testing its tools. Hera took about 600 pictures, including rare shots of the opposite side of Mars of one of the two “Dimos” two.
The small moon shows an irregular shape with a diameter of approximately 12.5 km, dark, sharply contradicting the shape of its planet.
The genesis of Mars, “Dimos” and “Foubus”, are still discussing.
Before launching specific tasks for his study, the pictures taken by “Hera” will “add a new piece to the Basel”, according to Marcel Bobbacco of the University of Craiova in Romania.
The pictures are of great importance. It was taken using a “Terry” infrared and “Hybraskot” infrared device, which is a nearby infrared system – which explains the reason for the appearance of Mars in blue. The images will allow the enhancement of information on the physical thermal properties of “Dimos” and its composition … before revealing the mystery surrounding “Dimorfos”.
The final mission of “Hera” is to study this small asteroid, which collided with a vehicle for the US Space Agency (NASA) in 2022 to the letter of its path.
The probe will monitor the consequences of the collision that led to the reduction of the orbit of this 160 -meter -diameter, which is a bilateral system with a larger asteroid called “Dedimus”.
The goal is to evaluate whether such technology is effective in the future to remove an asteroid threatens the planet with collision.
