ESA's Hera spacecraft, built for planetary defence, has resolved its two target asteroids as separate objects for the first time. The images confirm the binary nature of the Didymos system, which currently sits about 197 million kilometres from Earth.
Hera is heading to the asteroid NASA's DART mission deliberately struck in 2022, the first test of deflecting an asteroid. Seeing the two bodies separately means Hera is close enough to start its real work: measuring how well that impact moved an asteroid, knowledge we would need if one ever threatened Earth.
✦ Humanity is learning, step by step, how to nudge an asteroid off course.