The Hera science team is based on working groups per mission topic, which is different from the model adopted for large ESA planetary missions, where the Project Scientist is supported by Science Working Teams consisting mostly of instrument Principal Investigators (PIs).
Through this structure, the Mission PI is the primary interface to ESA and advises the ESA Hera Project Scientist and the Hera Mission Manager. The Mission PI is invited to the ESA subordinate bodies of the ESA Council, as required and according to the respective rules and regulations governing such meetings.
Team Leaders
Featured
Hera Science Team
The Hera Science Team includes the ESA Project Scientist and the mission PI, who, together with the Advisory Board, compose the Science Management Board (SMB). It also includes the Investigation Team, which is composed of the Mission PI, the Advisory Board, the Working Group Chairs and some instrument representatives. There are also instrument PIs who are responsible for decisions about delivery and safe operation of their instrument, and an Operation Group with a Chair appointed by ESA for the operational aspects of the mission.
Science Management Board
SCIENCE MANAGEMENT BOARD
Hera Investigation Team
HERA INVESTIGATION TEAM
Mission PI
Dr. Patrick Michel Univ. Côte d’Azur | Obs. Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Lagrange Lab. Nice, France
Management Board Members
Pr. Alan Fitzsimmons Queen's University of Belfast, United Kingdom
Pr. Simon F. Green The Open University, United Kingdom
Pr. Monica Lazzarin Padova University, Italy
Dr. Stephan Ulamec DLR, Germany
Dr. Paul Abell NASA, USA
Pr. Seiji Sugita University of Tokyo, Japan
Working group chairs & instrument PI
Pr. Adriano Campo Bagatin Univ. Alicante, Spain
Dr. Benoît Carry Univ. Côte d’Azur, Obs. Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Lagrange Lab, France
Pr. Sébastien Charnoz IPGP, France
Dr. Julia de Leon lnstituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Spain
Dr. Fabio Ferrari Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Pr. Paulo Gordo Univ. Lisbon, Portugal
Dr. Alain Hérique lPAG, France
Dr. Martin Jutzi University of Bern, Switzerland
Dr. Ozgur Karatekin ROB, Belgium
Dr. Tomas Kohout Univ. Helsinki, Finland
Dr. Naomi Murdoch lSAE-Supaero, France
Pr. Tatsuaki Okada ISAS/JAXA, Japan
Dr. Petr Pravec Ondrejov Observatory, Czech Republic
Dr. Sabina Raducan University of Bern, Switzerland
Dr. Colin Snodgrass University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Pr. Paolo Tortora Univ. Bologna, ltaly
Pr. Kleomenis Tsiganis University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Dr. Jean-Baptiste Vincent DLR, Germany
Dr. Kai Wünnemann Berlin Museum für Naturkunde, Germany
Hera International Team Members
Dr. Olivier S. Barnouin APL/JHU, USA
Dr. Nancy Chabot APL/JHU, USA
Dr. Andy Cheng APL/JHU, USA
Dr. Carolyn Ernst APL/JHU, USA
Pr. Derek C. Richardson Univ. Maryland, USA
Dr. Andy Rivkin APL/JHU, USA
Dr. Angela Stickle APL/JHU, USA
Dr. Cristina Thomas Northern Arizona University, USA
Dr. Elisabetta Dotto INAF, Italy
Pr. Masahiko Arakawa Univ. Kobe, Japan
Pr. Hirdy Miyamoto Univ. Tokyo, Japan
Pr. Akiko Nakamura Univ. Kobe, Japan
Pr. Seiji Sugita Univ. Tokyo, Japan
Pr. Makoto Yoshikawa ISAS/JAXA, Japan
Dr. Paul Abell NASA, USA
Pr. Erik Asphaug Univ. Arizona, USA
Dr. Ronald-Louis Ballouz Univ. Arizona, USA
Dr. William F. Bottke Jr. SWRI, USA
Pr. Dante S. Lauretta Univ. Arizona, USA
Dr. Kevin J. Walsh SWRI, USA
Honorary Mission Advisor
HONORARY MISSION ADVISOR
Dr. Brian H. May
Dr. Brian May (Queen guitarist and astrophysicist) is Hera Honorary Mission Advisor. In addition to supporting and highly contributing to mission related public outreach activities and videos presenting the mission, he is also offering a great contribution to the science activities and preparation of the mission. In particular, he is performing stereoscopic image pairs and movies of the numerical modeling of Didymos’ evolution developed by Hera team members, allowing us to visualize and therefore to better understand the predicted behavior and properties of the asteroid in three dimensions. He is also providing advice for the imaging strategy of the binary system by Hera, so that stereoscopic pairs can be produced from images taken at different and well chosen phases, allowing a vision of the real asteroid in 3D. Such a vision does not only allow us to appreciate the beauty of these small worlds, but also to discover and study their incredible geological complexity. Stereoscopic pairs by Dr. May and his collaborator Claudia Manzoni have demonstrated their extraordinary power and usefulness in past missions, such as OSIRIS-REx (NASA) and Hayabusa2 (JAXA).
Dr. May is already co-author of a two peer-reviewed articles by Hera team members, which were reported in several medias and ESA press releases:
_ Michel, P., Ballouz, R.-L., Barnouin, O.S., Jutzi, M., Walsh, K.J., May, B.H., Manzoni, C., Richardson, D.C., Schwartz, S.R., Sugita, S., Watanabe, S., Miyamoto, H., Hirabayashi, M., Bottke, W.F., Connolly Jr., H.C., Yoshikawa, M., Lauretta, D.S. 2020. Collisional formation of top-shaped asteroids and implications for the origins of Ryugu and Bennu. Nature Communications 11, 2665, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16433-z
ESA Press Release (click here)
_ Zhang, Y., Michel, P., Richardson, D.C., Barnouin, O.S., Agrusa, H.F., Tsiganis, K., Manzoni, C., May, B.H. 2021. Creep stability of the DART/Hera mission target 65803 Didymos: II. The role of cohesion. Icarus 362, 114433, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114433
Working Groups
Countries contributing hardware or another significant contribution to the mission have a national mission Co-PI. Other countries and corresponding Co-PIs may be added to this list in future if a significant contribution is forthcoming.
Group 1 - Impact Modeling
Group 2 - Ground Based Observations
Group 3 - Dynamics
Group 4 - Data analysis, exploitation, interpretation
Group 1
IMPACT MODELING
Chairs
Martin Jutzi Univ. Bern, Switzerland
Kai Wünnemann Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin / FU Berlin, Germany
Sabina Raducan Univ. Bern, Switzerland
CORE MEMBERS
Masahiko Arakawa Kobe University, Japan
Christoph Burger Univ. Tübigen, Germany
Gareth Collins Imperial College London, UK
Thomas Davison Imperial College London, UK
Nicole Gueldemeister Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany
Robert Luther Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany
Elena Martellato Uni Parthenope, Rome, Italy
Patrick Michel Univ. Côte d’Azur, Obs. Côte d'Azur, CNRS, France
Jens Ormoe CAB INTA-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
Christoph Schäfer Univ. Tübingen, Germany
Angela Stickle John Hopkins Univ., APL, USA
Yun Zhang Univ. Côte d’Azur, Obs. Côte d’Azur, CNRS, France
Extended Members
Ioannis Baziotis Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
Michel Boustie CNRS/Simchoc, France
Severine Boyer Paris Tech, France
Mark Burchell Univ. Kent, UK
Jakob Deller Max Planck Inst. For Solar System Research, Germany
Arnold Gucsik University of Debrecen, Hungaria
Max Gulde EMI Fraunhofer, Germany
David Hebert CEA, France
Isabel Herreros CAB INTA-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
Stavro Ivanovski INAF - Astronomical observatory of Padova, Italy
Benjamin Jodar CEA, France
Thomas Kenkmann Univ. Freiburg, Switzerland
Detelf Koschny ESA, Netherlands
Michelle Lavagna Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Alice Lucchetti Astronomical Obs. Padova, Italy
Thomas Maindl Univ. Vienna, Austria
Uri Malamud University Tel Aviv, Israël
Naomi Murdoch SUPAERO, Univ. de Toulouse, France
Akiko Nakamura Kobe University, Japan
Wladimir Neumann DLR Institute for Planetary Research Berlin, Germany
M. Gabriela Parisi FCAGLP & CONICET, Argentina
Gisela Pösgesn Geopark Ries e. V., Germany
Mark Price Univ. Kent, UK
Martin Sauer EMI Fraunhofer, Germany
Frank Schäfer EMI Fraunhofer, Germany
Gonzalo Tancredi Univ. Montevideo, Uruguay
Menios Tsiganis Aristotle Univ. Thessalonica Greece
Dimitri Veras U Warwick, Poland
Jean-Baptiste Vincent DLR Institute for Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany
Group 2
GROUND BASED OBSERVATIONS
Chairs
Petr Pravec Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic, Czech Republic
Benoît Carry Univ. Côte d’Azur, Obs. Côte d'Azur, CNRS, Lagrange Lab., France
Julia de Leon Inst. Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain
Colin Snodgrass Univ. Edinburgh, UK
Core Team
Mirel Birlan Observatoire de Meudon, France
Alan Fitzsimmons Queens Univ. Belfast, UK
Elisa Frattin Astronomical Obs. Padova, Italy
Simon Green Open University, UK
Petr Scheirich Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic, Czech Republic
Marcel Popescu IAC, Spain
Damya Souami Obs. Paris Meudon, France
Monica Lazzarin Univ. Padova, Italy
Fiorangela LaForgia Univ. Padova, Italy
Alessandra Migliorini IAPS/INAF, Italy
Jérome Berthier Paris Observatory/IMCCE, Paris
Toni Santana i Ros Universidad de Alicante, Spain
Rosita Kokotanekova ESO, Chile
Extended Team
Daniel Hestroffer Paris Observatory/IMCCE, Paris
Josselin Desmars Paris Observatory/IMCCE, Paris
William Thuillot Paris Observatory/IMCCE, Paris
Adriano Campo-Bagatín Univ. Alicante, Spain
Alessandro Rossi Instituto di Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara, Italy
Antti Näsilä VTT, Finland
Dominik Kiersz Queens Univ. Belfast, UK
Javier Licandro IAC, Spain
Nicolas Rambaux Paris Observartory, France
Jamie Robinson Queens Univ. Belfast, UK
Cristina Thomas Planetary Science Institute, USA
Menios Tsiganis Univ. Thessaloniki, Greece
Cecilia Tubiana MPS, Germany
Jean-Baptiste Vincent DLR Institute for Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany
Paolo Tanga Univ. Côte d’Azur, Obs. Côte d'Azur, CNRS, Lagrange Lab., France
Michal Zolnowski 6 Roads, Poland
Marcin Gedek 6 Roads, Poland
Camilla Colombo Politecnico Milano, Italy
Ernesto Palomba IAPS INAF, Italy
Stephen Lowry Univ. Kent, UK
George Voyatzis Univ. Thessaloniki, Greece
Ivano Bertini Univ. Padova, Italy
Antti Penttilä Univ. Helsinki, Finland
Tomas Kohout Univ. Helsinki, Finland
Fernando Moreno Inst. Astrofísica Andalucia, Spain
Simone Ieva INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma
Group 3
DYNAMICS
Chairs
Adriano Campo-Bagatin U Alicante, Spain
Kleomenis Tsiganis AUTh, Greece
Sebastien Charnoz IPGP, France
Core Members
Harrison Agrusa Univ. Côte d’Azur, Obs. Côte d'Azur, CNRS, Lagrange Lab., France
Alessandro Rossi IFAC-INAF (Italy)
Fabio Ferrari PoliMi (Italy) - JPL
Francesco Marzari U Padova (Italy)
Ioannis Gkolias AUTh (Greece)
Jesus Gil-Fernandez ESA
Laurent Pou UC Santa-Cruz (USA)
Marco Zannoni UBologna (Italy)
Nicolas Rambaux IMCCE (France)
Ozgur Karatekin ROB (Belgium)
Paula Benavidez U Alicante (Spain)
Stefania Soldini U Liverpool (UK)
Yang Yu U Beihang (CN)
Yun Zhang UMD (USA)
Derek Richardson UMD (USA)
George Voyatzis AUTh (Greece)
Extended Members
Bjoern Grieger ESA, ESAC, Spain
Camilla Colombo PoliMi, Italy
Damya Souami Obs. Paris, France
Francesco Topputo PoliMi, Italy
Line Drube DTU, Danemark
Maurizio Pajola INAF, Italy
Paolo Tortora U Bologna, Italy
Christos Efthymiopoulos U Padova (Italy)
Valerio Filice OMA, Belgium
Albert Falke Airbus Defense&Space, Germany
Dimitri Veras Warwick University, Poland
Daniel Hestroffer IMCCE, France
Daniel Villegas-Pinto IMCCE, France
Graciela Gonzalez Univ. der Bundeswehr, Germany
Greta de Marco ESA/ESOC, Germany
Jean-Baptiste Vincent DLR, Germany
Jens Biele DLR, Germany
Marek Banaszkiewicz Center for Space Research, Warsaw, Poland
Martin Sauer EMI Fraunhofer, Germany
Michelle Lavagna PoliMi, Italy
Malgorzata Krolikowska Center for Space Research, Warsaw, Poland
Naomi Murdoch ISAE/Supaéro, France
Jolanta Nastula Center for Space Research, Warsaw, Poland
Paolo Tanga UCA, OCA, CNRS, France
Petr Pravec Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
Petr Scheirich Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
Ryszard Gabryszewski Center for Space Research, Warsaw, Poland
Simon Delchambre Airbus Defense&Space, Toulouse
Slawomira Szutowicz Center for Space Research, Warsaw, Poland
Tobias Ziegler Airbus Defense&Space, Germany
Tom Andert Univ. der Bundeswehr, Germany
Tomas Kohout Univ. Helsinki, Finland
Pawel Wajer Center for Space Research, Warsaw, Poland
Roman Wawrzaszek Center for Space Research, Warsaw, Poland
Emilien Azema Univ. Montpellier, France
Mathieu Renouf Univ. Montpellier, France
Fernando Moreno Inst. Astrofísica de Andalucia, Spain
Jianglang Feng Univ. of Strathclyde, UK
Massimiliano Vasile Univ. of Strathclyde, UK
Group 4
DATA ANALYSIS, EXPLOITATION, INTERPRETATION
Chairs
Alain Herique
Ozgur Karatekin
Naomi Murdoch
Paolo Tortora
Jean-Baptiste Vincent
Core Members
Olivier Barnouin
Ivano Bertini
Julia de Leon
Sébastien Le Maistre
Alice Lucchetti
Tatsuaki Okada
Maurizio Pajola
Ernesto Palomba
Ryan S. Park
Marcel Popescu
Frank Preusker
Giacomo Tommei
Marco Zannoni
Extended Members
Jens Biele
John Robert Brucato
Fabrizio Dirri
Mélanie Drilleau
Mario Fernandez
Fabio Ferrari
Raphael Garcia
Oriane Gassot
Hannah Goldberg
Simon Green
Matthias Grott
Maximilian Hermsdorf
Daniel Hestroffer
Akos Kereszturi
Wlodek Kofman,
Tomas Kohout
Katrin Krohn
Fiorangela La Forgia
Monica Lazzarin
Jian-Yang Li
Andrea Longobardo
Alessandra Migliorini
Richard Moissl
Andreas Nathues
Matthias Noeker
Katharina Otto
Antti Penttilä
Dirk Plettemeier
Birgit Ritter
Yves Rogez
Boris Segret
Katrin Stephan
Josep M. Trigo-Rodríguez
Cecilia Tubiana
Stefaan Van wal
Sonia Zine
Simone Ieva
Tomáš Kašpárek
Maximilian Hamm
Close Ops - Planning Group
Chairs
Richard Moissl ESA/ESTEC, The Netherlands
Alain Herique Univ. Grenoble-Alpes, France
Naomi Murdoch ISAE-SUPAERO Toulouse, France
Ozgur Karatekin Royal Observatory Belgium, Belgium
Paolo Tortora Univ. Bologna, Italy
Jean-Baptiste Vincent DLR, Germany
Adriano Campo-Bagatin Univ. Alicante, Spain
Alan Fitzsimmons Queens University Belfast, UK
Albert Falke Airbus Defense&Space, Germany
Alessandra Migliorini IAPS/INAF, Italy
Alessandro Zuccaro ESA/ESTEC, The Netherlands
Alfonso Caldiero Royal Observatory Belgium, Belgium
Alfredo Escalante ESA/ESAC, Spain
Alice Lucchetti Astronomical Obs. of Padova, Italy
Ana Rugina ESA/ESTEC, The Netherlands
Anders Svedevall OHB, Germany
Andrea Accomazzo ESA/ESOC, Germany
Andrea Longobardo INAF, Rome, Italy
Andreas Nathues MPI Solar System Research, Germany
Andreas Pellacani GMV, Spain
Andy Cheng APL, USA
Andy Rivkin APL, USA
Antonio Rizza PoliMi, Italy
Antti Penttila Univ. Helsinki, Finland
Antti Nasila VTT, Finland
Aurélie Moussi CNES, France
Detlef Bambach MPI Solar System Research, Germany
Benoit Carry Univ. Côte d’Azur, Obs. Côte d'Azur, CNRS, France
Björn Grieger ESA/ESAC, Spain
Birgit Ritter Royal Observatory Belgium, Belgium
Boris Segret Obs. Paris, France
Carsten Guettler MPI Solar System Research, Germany
Cesar Bernal ISISpace, The Netherlands
Cecilia Tubiana INAF, Rome, Italy
Cecily Sunday ISAE-SUPAERO Toulouse, France
Colin Snodgrass Royal Observatory Edinburgh, UK
Daniel Hestroffer Obs. Paris, France
Daniel Schuetze OHB, Germany
Daniel Villegas-Pinto Obs. Paris
Diego Escorial ESA/ESTEC, The Netherlands
Dirk Plettemeier TU Dresden, Germany
Edoardo Caroselli Airbus Defense&Space, Germany
Edoardo Gramigna Univ. Bologna, Italy
Eduardo Cruz Gomspace, Luxembourg
Elias Chatzitheodoridis Athens School of Mining and Metal. Engin., Greece
Elodie Gloesener Royal Observatory Belgium, Belgium
Ernesto Palomba INAF, Rome, Italy
Etienne Le Bras Gomspace, Luxembourg
Fabio Ferrari University Bern, Switzerland
Fabrizio Dirri INAF, Rome, Italy
Fiorangela La Forgia University Padova, Italy
Francesco Topputo PoliMi, Italy
Francisco Cabral GMV, Spain
Francisco Perez OHB, Germany
Frank Preusker DLR, Germany
Frederik Belien Airbus Defense&Space, Germany
Friedrich Damme TU Berlin, Germany
Futaana Yoshifumi Swedish Inst. for Space Physics (IRFU), Sweden
Giacomo Tommei University Pisa, Italy
Gianpiero Di Girolamo ESA/ESOC, Germany
Gabriela Parisi IAR-CONICET, Argentina
Graciela Gonzalez Universität der Bundeswehr, Germany
Grégoire Henry Royal Observatory Belgium, Belgium
Holger Sierks MPI Solar System Research, Germany
Ivan Vasconcelos University Utrecht, Germany
Ioannis Daglis University of Athens, Greece
Ian Carnelli ESA/ESTEC, The Netherlands
Ingo Gerth OHB, Germany
Ioannis Baziotis Agricultural Univ. of Athens, Greece
Ivano Bertini Univ. Parthenope, Italy
Jakob Deller MPI Solar System Research, Germany
Javier Herrera OHB, Germany
Jean-Luc Josset Space-X, Switzerland
Jens Biele DLR, Germany
Jesus Gil ESA/ESTEC, The Netherlands
Javier Licandro Inst. Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain
Juan Luis Rizos Inst. Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain
Julia de Leon Inst. Astrofísica de Canarias
John Brucato Arcetri Astrobiology Lab., Italy
Joris Blommaert VITO, Belgium
Josep Maria Trigo-Rodriguez ICE, Barcelona, Spain
Juergen Oberst DLR, Germany
Jan-Erik Wahlund Swedish Inst. for Space Physics (IRFU), Sweden
Kai Wünnemann Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany
Katharina Otto DLR, Germany
Katrin Krohn DLR, Germany
Katrin Stephan DLR, Germany
Akos Kereszturi Hungarian Academy of Science, Hungary
Kleomenis Tsiganis AUTh, Greece
Gabor Kovacs Budapest University of Technology, Hungary
Laurence Lorda CNES, France
Dante Lauretta Univ. of Arizona, USA
Line Drube Technical Univ. of Denmark (DTU), Denmark
Lida Fanara DLR, Germany
Makoto Yoshikawa ISAS/JAXA, Japan
Marco Agnan Odysseus Space, Luxembourg
Marco Zannoni Univ. Bologna, Italy
Mario Fernandez Palos Univ. Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain
Martin Jutzi Univ. Bern, Switzerland
Masatoshi Hirabayashi Auburn University, USA
Matthias Grott DLR, Germany
Matthias Noeker Royal Observatory Belgium, Belgium
Mattia Pugliatti PoliMi, Italy
Maurizio Pajola Astronomical Obs. of Padova, Italy
Maximilian Hamm DLR, Germany
Maximilian Hermsdorf TU Dresden, Germany
Mélanie Drilleau ISAE SUPAERO, France
Michelle Lavagna PoliMi, Italy
Patrick Michel Univ. Côte d’Azur, Obs. Côte d’Azur, CNRS, France
Michael Kueppers ESA/ESAC, Spain
Michael Mueller ESA/ESOC, Germany
Monica Lazzarin University Padova, Italy
Marcel Popescu Inst. Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain
Olga Sykioti National Obs. of Athens, Greece
Olivier Barnouin APL, USA
Oriane Gassot Univ. Grenoble-Alpes, France
Paolo Martino ESA/ESTEC, The Netherlands
Paulo Gordo Univ. Lisbon, Portugal
Petr Pravec Czech Acad. of Sciences, Czech Republic
Raphael Garcia ISAE SUPAERO, France
Raphael Lescouzeres OHB, Germany
Ricardo Valles ESA/ESAC, Spain
Riccardo Lasagni Univ. Bologna, Italy
Ryan Park JPL, USA
Sébastien Charnoz IPGP, France
Sébastien Lemaistre Royal Observatory Belgium, Belgium
Simon Green The Open University, UK
Simon Tardivel CNES, France
Sonia Zine Univ. Grenoble-Alpes, France
Stephen Schwartz Univ. Arizona, USA
Stephan Ulamec DLR, Germany
Stefaan Van Wal Gomspace, Luxembourg
Seiji Sugita Univ. Tokyo, Japan
Sylvain Lodiot ESA/ESOC, Germany
Tatsuaki Okada ISAS/JAXA, Japan
Tetsuya Fukuhara Rikkyo University, Japan
Thomas Mueller MPI for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany
Timo Ruehl OHB, Germany
Tom Andert Univ. der Bundeswehr, Germany
Tomas Kohout Univ. Helsinki, Germany
Ulrich Herfort ESA/ESOC, Germany
Valérie Ciarletti LATMOS, France
Véronique Dehant Royal Observatory Belgium, Belgium
Vicente Companys ESA/ESOC, Germany
Victor Moreno GMV, Spain
Vittorio Franzese PoliMi, Italy
Wlodek Kofman Univ. Grenoble-Alpes, France
Yves Rogez Univ. Grenoble-Alpes, France
Instrument PIs
AFC
Jean-Baptiste Vincent DLR, Germany
TIRI
Tatsu Okada JAXA, Spain
HyperScout
Julia de Leon IAC, Spain
PALT
Paulo Gordo FCUL, Portugal
JuRa
Alain Hérique IPAG, France
GRASS
Ozgur Karatekin ROB, Belgium
ASPECT
Tomas Kohout Univ. Helsinki, Finland
VISTA
Ernesto Palomba INAF, Rome, Italy
Radio Science
Paolo Tortora Univ. Bologna, Italy