Rebooting a Spacecraft 140 Million Kilometres from Earth

• ESA's Hera spacecraft successfully completed a remote software upgrade while 140 million kilometres from Earth.
• The operation involved rebooting two parallel redundant processing streams in sequence to ensure total system reliability.
• This mission critical update enables Hera to execute autonomous operations for its upcoming study of the asteroid Dimorphos.

Technical Implementation and Risk

• Because the spacecraft is travelling at over 12 km/s, signal latency is approximately eight minutes in each direction.
• The team spent 18 months conducting 50 days of rigorous testing on "the Bench," a fully functional ground replica of the spacecraft located at OHB in Bremen.
• Testing included rehearsals for autonomous behavior and communication protocols with two secondary CubeSats to be deployed next year.

Mission Background

• Hera launched in October 2024 to capitalize on a specific Mars flyby window, requiring the team to perform final software integration during the cruise phase.
• The mission's goal is to survey the impact crater left by NASA's DART spacecraft on Dimorphos in 2022.
• Data collected will help validate techniques for planetary defense, specifically the ability to deflect hazardous asteroids.