Team

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. 

Rules of the Road applying to the Hera Investigation Team concerning mission data policy and publications can be found here (click here, password protected). These “Rules of the Road” complement the Terms of Reference (ToR) where Investigation Team Members sign their compliance to the rules.

Team Leaders

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 Science Operation Working Group with a Chair appointed by ESA for the operational aspects of the mission. And finally, It includes all Hera Working Group members.

SCIENCE MANAGEMENT BOARD

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 Univesity of Alicante, Spain

Pr. Sébastien Charnoz IPGP, France

Dr. Julia de Leon Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Spain

Dr. Fabio Ferrari Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Dr. Alain Hérique IPAG, France

Dr. Martin Jutzi University of Bern, Switzerland

Dr. Ozgur Karatekin ROB, Belgium

Dr. Tomas Kohout University of Helsinki, Finland

Dr. Naomi Murdoch ISAE-Supaero, France

Pr. Tatsuaki Okada ISAS/JAXA, Japan

Dr. Ernesto Palomba INAF, Italy

Dr. Marcel Popescu University of Craiova, ISS, Romania

Dr. Petr Pravec Ondrejov Observatory, Czech Republic

Dr. Sabina Raducan University of Bern, Switzerland

Dr. Alexander Stark DLR, Germany

Dr. Colin Snodgrass University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Pr. Paolo Tortora University of 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 University of Maryland, USA

Dr. Andy Rivkin APL/JHU, USA

Dr. Angela Stickle APL/JHU, USA

Dr. Cristina Thomas Northern Arizona University, USA

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

Pr. Dante S. Lauretta Univ. Arizona, USA

Dr. Kevin J. Walsh SWRI, USA

HONORARY MISSION ADVISOR

Dr. Sir 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

ESA Press Release (click here)

NASA PARTICIPATING SCIENTISTS

• Bonnie Buratti – NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Southern California

• Ingrid Daubar – Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island

• Carolyn Ernst – Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

• Dawn Graninger – Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

• Mark Haynes – NASA JPL

• Masatoshi Hirabayashi – Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

• Tim Lister – Las Cumbres Observatory, Goleta, California

• Ryan Park – NASA JPL

• Andrew Rivkin – Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

• Daniel Scheeres – University of Colorado, Boulder

• Timothy Titus – U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona 

• Yun Zhang – University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

  Get to know more about it on:

  https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/planetary-science/nasa-selects-participating-scientists-to-join-esas-hera-mission/

Working Groups

Group 1 - Impact Modeling

Group 2 - Ground Based Observations

Group 3 - Dynamics

Group 4 - Data analysis, exploitation, interpretation

IMPACT MODELING

Chairs

Jutzi Martin Univ. Bern, Switzerland

Wünnemann Kai Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin / FU Berlin, Germany

Raducan Sabina Univ. Bern, Switzerland

CORE MEMBERS

Burger Christoph Univ. Tübigen, Germany

Collins Gareth Imperial College London, UK

Daubar Ingrid Brown University, USA

Graninger Dawn APL/JHU, USA

Davison Thomas Imperial College London, UK

Koschny Detlef Univ. Münich, Germany

Kurosawa Kosuke Univ. Kobe, Japan

Luther Robert Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany

Malamud Uri Technion Astrophysics Group, Israël

Martellato Elena Uni Parthenope, Rome, Italy

Nakamura Akiko Univ. Kobe, Japan

Ormoe Jens CAB INTA-CSIC, Madrid, Spain

Schäfer Christoph Univ. Tübingen, Germany

Stickle Angela APL/JHU, USA

NEXT GEN Member

Berk Cem ROB, Belgium

GROUND BASED OBSERVATIONS

Chairs

Pravec Petr Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic, Czech Republic

De Leon Julia Inst. Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain

Snodgrass Colin Univ. Edinburgh, UK

Core MEMBERS 

Knight Matthew United States Naval Academy

Kokotanekova Rosita ESO, Chile

LaForgia Fiorangela Univ. Padova, Italy

Lazzarin Monica Univ. Padova, Italy

Lister Tim Las Cumbres Observatory

Migliorini Alessandra IAPS/INAF, Italy

Opitum Cyrielle University of Edinburgh, UK

Park Ryan JPL, USA

Popescu Marcel Romanian Academy, Romania

Scheirich Petr Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic, Czech Republic

Souami Damya Obs. Paris Meudon, France

Thomas Cristina Northern Arizona University, USA

DYNAMICS

Chairs

Campo-Bagatin Adriano U Alicante, Spain

Tsiganis Kleomenis AUTh, Greece

Charnoz Sébastien IPGP, France

Core Members

Agrusa Harrison U Côte d’Azur, Obs. Côte d'Azur, CNRS, Lagrange Lab. (France)

Benavidez Lozano Paula U Alicante (Spain)

Chesley Steve JPL NASA (USA)

Ferrari Fabio PoliMi (Italy)

Fodde Iosto Politecnico Milano (Italy)

Gkolias Ioannis AUTh (Greece)

Gramigna Edoardo Univ. Bologna (Italy)

Herreros Isabel CAB CSIC-INTA (Spain)

Hirabayashi Masatoshi Georgia Institute of Technology (USA)

Ivanoski Stavro INAF (Italy)

Karatekin Ozgur ROB (Belgium)

Lasagni Riccardo Univ. Bologna (Italy)

Marzari Francesco U Padova (Italy)

Park Ryan JPL NASA (USA)

Pérez Molina Manuel U Alicante (Spain)

Richardson Derek C. UMD retired (USA)

Rossi Alessandro IFAC-INAF (Italy)

Scheeres Daniel U Colorado Boulder (USA)

Soldini Stefania U Liverpool (UK)

Voyatzis George AUTh (Greece)

Zannoni Marco U Bologna (Italy)

Zhang Yun U Michigan (USA)

NEXT GEN MEMBERS

Bigot Jeanne ISAE-SupAero (France)

Cavale Ashish U Colorado (USA)

Chang Tzu-Heng U Alicante (Spain)

Civati Lucia F. Politecnico Milano (Italy)

Frizzell Eric Politecnico Milano (Italy)

Fu Xiaou U Maryland (USA)

Liu Po-Yen U Alicante (Spain)

Makadia Rahil U Illinois (USA)

Peña Asensio Eloy U Alicante (Spain)

Skeers Amelia U Colorado (USA)

Wang Hai-Shuo U Colorado (USA)

Wang Yaqiong Observatoire de Paris (France)

Wimarsson John U Bern (Switzerland)

Zhou Wenhan U Tokyo (Japan)

DATA ANALYSIS, EXPLOITATION, INTERPRETATION

Chairs

Herique Alain

Karatekin Ozgur

Murdoch Naomi

Tortora Paolo

Vincent Jean-Baptiste

HIGH LEVEL PRODUCTS LEADS

HLP 1: Dimorphos Orbital State: Karatekin Ozgur (lead), Park Ryan S. (co-lead)

HLP 2: Gravitationnal Accelaration: Tortora Paolo (lead), Zannoni Marco (co-lead)

HLP 3: Satellite/Debris/Dust Ejection: Bertini Ivano (lead), Palomba Ernesto '(co-lead)

HLP 4: Non-Gravitationnal Accelaration: Mochi Maddalena (lead), Tsiganis Kleomenis (co-lead)

HLP 5: Shape/Volume: Preusker Frank (lead), Ernst Caroline (co-lead)

HLP 6: Internal Structure: Herique Alain (lead), Le Maistre Sébastien (co-lead)

HLP 7: Geomorphology: Vincent Jean-Baptiste (lead), Pajola Maurizio (co-lead)

HLP 8: Mechanical Properties: Murdoch Naomi (lead), Lucchetti Alice (co-lead)

HLP 9: Optical and Thermal Properties: Okada Tatsu (lead), Green Simon (co-lead)

HLP 10: Composition and Space Weathering: De Leon Julia (lead), Popescu Marcel (co-lead)

Core Members

Gramigna Edoardo HLP1

Stark Alexander HLP1

Hussmann Hauke HLP1

Uccheddu Ileana HLP1, Next Gen

Ritter Birgit HLP2 & HLP7/8

Willner Konrad HLP2

Longobardo Andrea HLP3

Deshapriya Prasanna HLP3

Yumoto Koki HLP3

Rizos Jan-Luis HLP3

Dirri Fabrizio HLP3

Zturiakos Keres HLP3

Gisellu Chiara HLP3

Lasagni Riccardo HLP4

Tommei Giacomo HLP4

Kanamaru Masanori HLP4 & HLP9/10

Paoli Roberto HLP4, Next Gen

Siakas Alexandros HLP4, Next Gen

Banzi Davide HLP5

Soldini Stefania HLP6

Tasev Elisa HLP6

Örmo Jens HLP6

Eyraud Chrystelle HLP6

Virkki Anne HLP6

Plettemeier Dirk HLP6

Barnouin Olivier HLP7/8

Beccarelli Joël HLP7/8, Next Gen

Bigot Jeanne HLP7/8, Next Gen

Campo Bagatin Adriano HLP7/8

Parro Laura HLP7/8

Liu Po-Yen HLP7/8, Next Gen

Çelik Onu HLP7/8

Charnoz Sébastien HLP7/8

Cremasco Alessia HLP7/8, Next Gen

Daubar Ingrid HLP7/8

Duchene Alexia HLP7/8, Next Gen

Ferrari Fabio HLP7/8

Fuentes Oscar HLP7/8

Hirabayashi Masatoshi HLP7/8

Jutzi Martin HLP7/8

Kohout Tomas HLP7/8

Luther Robert HLP7/8

Nakamura Akiko HLP7/8

Penasa Luca HLP7/8, Next Gen

Raducan Sabina HLP7/8

Rivkin Andy HLP7/8

Rossi Alessandro HLP7/8

Rossi Costanza HLP7/8, Next Gen

Scheeres Dan HLP7/8

Sunday Cecily HLP7/8, Next Gen

Titus Thomas HLP7/8

Tusberti Filippo HLP7/8v

Wünnemann Kai HLP7/8

Zhang Yun HLP7/8

Migliorini Alessandra HLP9/10

Penttila Antti HLP9/10

Thomas Cristina HLP9/10

Tatsumi Eri HLP9/10

Kovac Gabbor HLP9/10

Poggiali Giovanni HLP9/10

Kurosawa Kosuke HLP9/10

Angrisani Marianna HLP9/10, HLP3

Hamm Maximilian HLP9/10

Lazzazin Monica HLP9/10

Sugita Seiji HLP9/10, HLP3

Yoshikawa Makoto HLP9/10

Miyamoto Hirdy HLP9/10

Sakatani Naoya HLP9/10

Shimaki Yuri HLP9/10

Ishizaki Takuya HLP9/10

Arai Takehiko HLP9/10

Senshu HLP9/10

Demura HLP9/10

Sekiguchi Tomohiko HLP9/10

Kouyama T HLP9/10

Blommaert Joris HLP9/10

Henry Gregoire HLP9/10

Nuyts Dirk HLP9/10

Abe Masanao HLP9/10

Ruggiu Lisa HLP9/10

Goderis Steven HLP9/10

Korda D HLP9/10

Laforgia Fiorangela HLP9/10

Farina Andrea HLP9/10, Next Gen

Prodan George HLP9/10, Next Gen

Manenti Francesca HLP9/10, Next Gen

Nakaharas HLP9/10, HLP3, Next Gen

Nishiyama Gaku HLP9/10, Next Gen

Burrati Bonnie NASA PSP

Haynes Mark NASA PSP

Chairs

Küppers Michael ESA/ESAC, Spain

Mission PI, Science Management Board, Working Group 4 Chairs and members, Instrument PIs

AFC

Jean-Baptiste Vincent DLR, Germany

TIRI

Tatsu Okada JAXA, Spain

HyperScout

Julia de Leon IAC, Spain

Marcel Popescu University of Craiova, ISS, Romania

PALT

Alexander Stark DLR, Germany

JuRa

Alain Hérique IPAG, France

GRASS

Ozgur Karatekin ROB, Belgium

Milani NavCam

Fabio Ferrari Polimi, Italy

ASPECT

Tomas Kohout Univ. Helsinki, Finland

VISTA

Ernesto Palomba INAF, Rome, Italy

Radio Science

Paolo Tortora Univ. Bologna, Italy