The European Space Agency's mission control team has completed a software upgrade on the Hera spacecraft while it travels through deep space, 140 million kilometres from Earth, the agency said.
The upgrade was carried out to prepare Hera for its planned exploration of two asteroids this autumn. According to the European Space Agency, the spacecraft is scheduled to visit both Dimorphos and Didymos when it arrives at the asteroid system. The agency said Hera is now considered ready for that work following the successful completion of the upgrade.
Hera is an ESA mission designed for asteroid exploration. Performing a software update at such a distance from Earth presented a logistical challenge for the mission control team, which nonetheless completed the procedure without issue, the agency reported.
The twin targets, Dimorphos and Didymos, are set to be examined by Hera this autumn. The European Space Agency confirmed the spacecraft's systems are in order for that encounter, with the deep-space software upgrade now behind the team.