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The worldwide tech leading Dutch firm, cosine, is making a big impact in space exploration. The company is playing a key role in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera mission by providing a powerful hyperspectral camera: the HyperScout H. This shoebox-sized instrument has just captured a remarkable image of the planet Mars and its enigmatic moon Deimos, marking a major milestone in the mission.
Contribution to an International Space Mission for Earth’s Safety
Launched on October 7, 2024, Hera is part of a groundbreaking planetary defence initiative. It follows NASA’s 2022 DART mission, which successfully altered the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos for the first time in humanity’s history. Hera will now assess the impact and further refine our understanding of asteroid deflection—an essential strategy to protect Earth from future potential threats.
The journey to the binary asteroid system Didymos-Dimorphos takes two years, and along the way, Hera is seizing unique scientific opportunities. On March 12, 2025, the spacecraft performed a gravity-assist manoeuvrer around Mars, coming within 5,000 km of the planet’s surface and just 300 km from its city-sized moon Deimos. This flyby was a great opportunity to perform an in-orbit calibration for the instruments on board, as Mars provided a large, well-characterized target, allowing the fine-tuning of all the pixels of the sensors. And then there was an added science bonus: Deimos, Mars’ moon, which until now had only been captured from the perspective of Mars’ surface.
HyperScout H, developed by cosine Remote Sensing BV, captured a vivid spectral image of Mars in the background with Deimos in the foreground—the first-ever image of Deimos’s far side in this spectral range. These images could give us new insights into how Deimos was formed—whether it resulted from a collision with Mars or if it’s actually a captured foreign moon.
From Mars to Asteroids for Planetary Defense
While the Mars flyby was a scientific success, the real mission lies ahead. In December 2026, Hera will reach its primary target, Dimorphos. HyperScout H will play a crucial role in analysing the composition of the asteroid’s soil from a distance, helping scientists understand the long-term effects of NASA’s DART impact and turn it into a repeatable planetary defence technique. Before getting there, this captured imagery of the red planet already underscores the impact of this Dutch innovation on the global stage for cosine.”It’s truly exhilarating to witness our technology performing seamlessly in deep space. After years of dedicated effort, seeing this compact yet powerful instrument thrive on an interplanetary mission is nothing short of remarkable,” shared Dr. Marco Esposito, Managing Director of cosine Remote Sensing.
Asteroid and Lunar Mining economy ahead
“Our technology has a proven track record in facilitating intricate planetary exploration missions. Previously, our company played a vital role in JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission by providing a key component of the optical navigation system for the MASCOT lander, developed by DLR, which still remains on the Ryugu asteroid to this day. Beyond these two asteroid missions, cosine has several HyperScout instruments in orbit around Earth, supplying essential data for various applications,” added Dr. Esposito.
Looking ahead, the company has exciting prospects on the horizon, with asteroid hunting for planetary defence, and asteroid and moon mining through spectral imaging standing out as flagship applications for cosine technologies.
About cosine
cosine is a Dutch company that develops and builds optical and in-situ measurement systems for space, air and ground use. It is based in Sassenheim, the Netherlands, with subsidiaries in Italy and Germany. The company’s SCOUT line of instruments is used for Earth observation, planetary exploration, and now, deep space missions like Hera.