Redwire Enabling ESA’s First Planetary Defense Mission with Cutting-Edge Onboard Computer System

Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW), a leader in space infrastructure for the next generation space economy, announced that it is providing a critical onboard computer system for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera mission, Europe’s inaugural flagship planetary defense mission. Hera is the European-led companion mission to NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which successfully impacted the binary asteroid system Didymos in September 2022 with Redwire power and navigation technology onboard. The Hera mission will provide a detailed survey of DART’s impact site.

Hera’s onboard computer was developed by Redwire’s wholly owned Belgian subsidiary, Redwire Space NV, through a contract with OHB Germany, the main industrial contractor for the mission. The onboard computer, Redwire’s third generation Advanced Data and Power Management System (ADPMS-3), is designed to monitor and control other spacecraft components, including transmitting critical data to operators on the ground. Developed to meet the challenges of operating in deep space, ADPMS-3 will control all vital spacecraft operations, including power and navigation, and play a crucial role in major mission milestones such as the deployment and monitoring of ESA’s two deep-space CubeSats and the spacecraft’s final orbital insertion at Didymos.

“Redwire’s third generation onboard computer, leveraging more than 25 years of flight heritage and avionics expertise, has become critical, enabling technology for today’s most ambitious missions,” said Erik Masure, President of Redwire Space Europe. “We are proud to partner with ESA for the game-changing Hera mission to advance humanity’s planetary defense capabilities and the scientific understanding of asteroids.”

The Hera mission is an exciting mission contributing to Redwire’s growing portfolio of space solutions that advance scientific discovery and planetary defense efforts. Redwire provided digital sun sensors and Roll-Out Solar Array technology for NASA’s DART mission. Redwire is also providing the onboard computer for ESA’s Comet Interceptor mission, the first spacecraft to visit a long-period comet. Redwire’s ADPMS leverages 25 years of spaceflight heritage, previously supporting ESA’s Proba-2, Proba-V, and Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle missions.

Hera will be launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center in October 2024.