By Deutsche Welle
17 Jul 2024, 15:58 PM EDT
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced on Tuesday initial funding for a mission that will aim to send a spacecraft to study the giant asteroid Apophiswhich will brush past planet Earth in 2029. The cruise ship-sized object, known as asteroid 99942 Apophis, measures about 375 meters (1,200 feet) from end to end. It is scheduled to pass within 32,000 kilometers (20,000 miles) of Earth’s surface on April 13, 2029, ESA said. The space agency said the spacecraft will “rendezvous” with the asteroid “and accompany it during its safe but exceptionally close flyby of Earth in 2029.”
The Apophis Rapid Space Safety Mission (Ramses) was intended to The objective is to study the size and orbit of the asteroid as Earth’s gravity alters its physical characteristics.the European agency said. ESA has received permission to begin preparatory work on Ramses, which is due to launch in April 2028 to reach Apophis two months before the flyby. A decision on whether a full mission will be approved will be made in November 2025.
Apophis will be visible to the naked eye
“There is still much to learn about asteroids, but so far, We have had to travel to the depths of the Solar System to study them and conduct experiments. ourselves to interact with its surface,” said Patrick Michel of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). “For the first time, nature brings one to us and carries out the experiment itself. All we have to do is observe how Apophis is “stretched and compressed” by tidal forces that can trigger landslides and reveal new material beneath the surface.”
Astronomers have said that objects the size of Apophis comes this close to Earth only once every 5,000 to 10,000 years.The celestial object, which scientists say will not collide with Earth for at least the next 100 years, will be visible to the naked eye in clear, dark skies to about 2 billion people across much of Europe, Africa and parts of Asia, ESA said.
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