The European Space Agency has opened its Hera asteroid mission to outside software experiments, offering European researchers and companies the chance to run code in deep space, millions of kilometres from Earth. According to the agency's 5 August 2026 announcement, Hera is due to complete its primary planetary defence goals around the Didymos and Dimorphos asteroids in mid-2027, after which it would become a flying software laboratory around 150 million km from Earth.

The agency says the selected experiments would explore onboard intelligence, image processing and AI-based autonomy while running alongside flight-critical systems. Hera's onboard computer uses a European-developed dual-core LEON3 processor: one core operates the spacecraft while the other hosts guest software in a protected sandbox. Hosted software would run for only two to three hours at a time and be shut off immediately if problems are identified, with access to instruments and subsystems fully facilitated.

Ideas are to be submitted through ESA's Open Space Innovation Platform, with winning ideas selected in mid-October 2026. Chosen teams would submit full implementation packages and source code for validation by 31 May 2027, ahead of a planned one-month operation period in August 2027. ESA says the goal is not to hand over control of Hera but to test ideas safely.

Launched in 2024, Hera is on course to reach Dimorphos, which NASA's DART spacecraft deliberately impacted in 2022 to shift its orbit around Didymos.