\tEnabling & Support<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t29\/10\/2025
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t22 likes<\/p>\n
The European Space Agency\u2019s upcoming Henon mission will be the first ever CubeSat to independently venture into deep space, communicate with Earth and manoeuvre to its final destination without relying on a bigger spacecraft. Once in its orbit around the Sun, the carry-on luggage-sized CubeSat will observe the Sun\u2019s emissions to demonstrate technologies capable of providing advanced warnings of solar storms hours before they reach Earth.<\/p>\n
\tHenon\u2019s firsts<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHENON Industry Patch<\/a><\/p>\n ESA\u2019s Heliospheric Pioneer for Solar and Interplanetary Threats Defence, Henon<\/a> for short, is set to be the first ever stand-alone CubeSat to perform significant manoeuvres on the way to its far-away destination \u2013 an orbit that will take the spacecraft up to 24 million km from Earth, far beyond the 2 million km boundary of where deep space is said to begin.<\/p>\n While Henon will not be ESA\u2019s first CubeSat to fly so far from Earth \u2013 Hera mission<\/a>\u2019s Juventas<\/a> and Milani<\/a> will claim that title \u2013 it will be the first to fly alone, without a parent spacecraft.<\/p>\n Roger Walker, ESA\u2019s Technology CubeSats manager, explains: \u201cJuventas and Milani will communicate with the larger Hera spacecraft via radio-based inter-satellite links, leaving Hera to transmit their findings back to Earth. Henon, on the other hand, will be able to independently communicate with ground stations through ESA\u2019s\u00a0Estrack network<\/a>, thanks to a new miniaturised deep-space transponder currently under development.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tFiring up HENON\u2019s engine<\/a><\/p>\n There is another reason for the word \u2018pioneer\u2019 in Henon\u2019s name. To be able to execute the manoeuvres that will position it in its orbit, the spacecraft will be sporting a tailor-made electric propulsion system<\/a>.<\/p>\n This first-of-its-kind miniature ion engine, powered by electricity generated from Henon\u2019s solar panels, will use charged xenon gas atoms to propel the spacecraft forward, allowing for an unprecedented manoeuvre capability for such a miniaturised spacecraft.<\/p>\n \u201cThis new propulsion system, once demonstrated, will open up opportunities for future low-cost missions to the Moon, asteroids, and even in Mars orbit,\u201d adds Roger.<\/p>\n \tHenon\u2019s design completed<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tHENON CubeSat Mission<\/a><\/p>\n In March this year, Henon\u2019s prime contractor Argotec<\/a> kicked-off the mission\u2019s final implementation phase<\/a>. Argotec\u2019s mission engineers have since designed a detailed model of the spacecraft, which has recently passed an important milestone in the mission development process, the Critical Design Review.<\/p>\n Davide Monferrini, Henon Program Manager at Argotec, comments: \u201cThis milestone is the result of remarkable teamwork, collaborative spirit, and professionalism from all members of the consortium. It showcases our collective commitment to achieving technical and programmatic excellence while validating a truly innovative configuration featuring three payloads and multiple miniaturized subsystems, including our Curie Power Suite, the advanced Power Conditioning and Distribution Unit (PCDU) that will serve as Henon\u2019s \u2018electric heart\u2019. Together, we remain committed to maintaining this high standard of excellence as we move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n With the mission\u2019s detailed design finalised and confirmed, the team will now move on to the next step \u2013 using a FlatSat, a prototype of the Henon spacecraft with all the electronic components interlinked and laid out on a table, they will easily access and test both the spacecraft\u2019s software and hardware.<\/p>\n At the same time, they will build a specialised model of the spacecraft and subject it to rigorous testing to make sure Henon\u2019s structure can withstand the vibrations of launch, as well as the vacuum, radiation, and extreme temperature conditions of deep space.<\/p>\n \tA very special orbit<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tIllustration of Distant Retrograde Orbit for Henon mission operations<\/a><\/p>\n Henon is expected to piggyback on the launch of a larger spacecraft planned for late 2026. The launcher will take the CubeSat to the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2, some 1.5 million km beyond Earth in the direction away from the Sun.<\/p>\n From here, the CubeSat will use its new electric propulsion system to fly to a Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) around the Sun \u2013 an orbit similar to but more elliptical than that of the Earth, first invented by French astronomer Michel H\u00e9non in 1969.<\/p>\n The mission \u2013 H\u00e9non\u2019s namesake \u2013 will be the first ever spacecraft to fly in this type of orbit, which will take it 12 million km from Earth at its closest point, and 24 million km away at the farthest. As both Earth and Henon will be orbiting the Sun, their relative orbits will make for an interesting situation \u2013 Henon will appear as if it\u2019s orbiting Earth in the shape of an ellipse instead.<\/p>\n \tAdvanced solar storms forecast<\/p>\n The Henon mission is being developed with funding from ESA\u2019s General Support Technology Programme<\/a> (GSTP), which enables ESA to pioneer new technologies through In-Orbit Demonstration<\/a> experiments.<\/p>\n As is the case with the majority of ESA\u2019s innovative technology demonstration missions, Henon\u2019s purpose will be two-fold: pushing the boundaries of space technology while ensuring it serves real-life applications.<\/p>\n Roger clarifies: \u201cThe mission will leverage its unique proximity to the Sun on the sunward side of the DRO to demonstrate miniaturised-instrument technologies that can confirm the impending arrival of solar storms well before they reach Earth, providing a warning up to 3-6 hours in advance. This is a considerable improvement compared to the current warning time provided by spacecraft located at Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1, which is about 15 to 60 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n Juha-Pekka Luntama, Head of ESA\u2019s Space Weather Office, concludes: \u201cDemonstrating this warning capability with Henon will open up a new pathway to develop a future constellation of small spacecraft that would operate in the DRO and keep a close watch on the progress of solar storms. This constellation would provide a continuous warning service for operators of critical infrastructure, like electrical power grids, on ground, giving us ten times more time to implement mitigation measures to prevent damage.\u201d<\/p>\n Like<\/p>\n Thank you for liking<\/p>\n You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Enabling & Support 29\/10\/2025 711 views 22 likes The European Space Agency\u2019s upcoming Henon mission will be the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-232859","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}