ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defense performed a flyby of Mars, as part of its gravitational assistance manoeuvre to shorten its journey to the binary asteroid system Didymos. During the flyby, the spacecraft came around 5000 km from the surface of Mars, having also the opportunity to obtain images of its two moons, Deimos (during the approach) and Phobos (when departing Mars). Julia de León, Javier Licandro, and George Prodan, researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, participate in this mission, successfully launched from Cape Cañaveral, Florida (USA) on October 7, 2024

El equipo de IACTEC-Espacio , la división del Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) dedicada al desarrollo de tecnología espacial, participa esta semana como expositor en el Small Satellites & Services International Forum (SSSIF) 2025, celebrado en Málaga, consolidando su posición como referente en el sector espacial español. El evento, clave para la industria de pequeños satélites, está sirviendo de plataforma para presentar proyectos innovadores y establecer colaboraciones estratégicas en especial sobre los proyectos DRAGO, los instrumentos canarios con capacidad de detectar imágenes

From Thursday, May 8th, to Friday, May 9th, the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC) is hosting the meeting of the Research Advisory Committee (CAI). This is the center's highest advisory body on research and analyzes its scientific and technological output. At this meeting, the director, Valentín Martínez Pillet, will present the center's main scientific and technological milestones, as well as a proposal for future lines of action. The director will also be joined by Eva Villaver, deputy director of the IAC; Romano Corradi, director of Gran Telescopio Canarias; Jonay González