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The European Space Agency is accelerating a new mission called Ramses that will fly to a near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis and will join the space rock in 2029, coming very close to our planet, even closer than the region where geosynchronous satellites are located.
Ramses is short for Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Security and, as the name suggests, is the next phase of humanity’s efforts to learn more about space. Near-Earth asteroids (NEOs) and how we can divert If one of these is discovered on a collision course with the planet Soil.
With the aim of launching in time for Apophis in February 2029, scientists at the European Space Agency have been given permission to begin planning Ramses even before the multinational space agency has officially approved the mission. Approval and funding for the Ramses mission will hopefully take place at ESA’s Ministerial Council meeting (with representatives from each of ESA’s member states) in November 2025. The agency says the launch should take place in April 2028 to arrive at Apophis in February 2029.
This is a big deal because it’s big Asteroids Don’t come this close to Earth that often. That’s why it’s scientifically significant that Apophis will pass within 19,794 miles (31,860 kilometers) of Earth on April 13, 2029. For comparison, geosynchronous orbit is 22,236 miles (35,786 km) above Earth’s surface. Such close passes of asteroids hundreds of meters in diameter (Apophis is about 1,230 feet or 375 meters in diameter) occur on average every 5,000 to 10,000 years. If we miss this one, we’ll have a long time to wait for the next one.
Relating to: 2 asteroids passed by Earth and NASA captured the action
When Apophis was discovered in 2004, it briefly became the most dangerous asteroid known, and was classified as having the potential to hit Earth, possibly in 2029, 2036, or 2068. If an asteroid of this size were to hit Earth, it could create a crater several kilometers across and devastate a country with shock waves, rapid heating, and ground tremors. If it hit the ocean, it could send a massive tsunami that would devastate coastlines in many countries.
Over time, as our understanding of Apophis’s orbit has become clearer, the risk of an impact has greatly diminished. Radar observations The asteroid’s impact in March 2021 reduced the uncertainty in Apophis’s orbit from hundreds of kilometers to just a few kilometers, finally eliminating any remaining concerns about an impact. at least for the next 100 years(After 100 years, asteroid orbits can become too unpredictable to chart with any accuracy, but there’s currently no suggestion of an impact in 100 years.) So by the time Apophis arrives, Earth is expected to be completely safe in 2029. Still, scientists want to see how Apophis responds by coming so close to Earth and entering our planet’s gravitational field.
“We still have a lot to learn about asteroids, but so far we’ve had to travel deep. solar system “We want to do experiments ourselves to study them and interact with their surfaces,” Patrick Michel, director of research at the CNRS at the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur in Nice, France, said in a statement. “Nature brings one to us and runs the experiment itself. All we have to do is watch as Apophis is stretched and compressed by powerful tidal forces that can trigger landslides and other disturbances and expose new material from below the surface.”
By arriving at Apophis before the asteroid’s close encounter with Earth and remaining there throughout and after the flyby, Ramses will be in the best position to conduct before-and-after studies to see how Apophis responds to Earth. By looking for disruptions in the asteroid’s surface triggered by Earth’s gravitational tidal forces, Ramses will be able to learn about Apophis’s internal structure, density, porosity, and composition—all characteristics we need to understand before we can think about how best to deflect a similar asteroid that has been detected on a collision course with our world.
In addition to helping protect Earth, learning about Apophis will give scientists more insight into how similar asteroids formed in the early solar system and how planets (including Earth) formed from the same material in the process.
One way we know Earth will affect Apophis is by changing its orbit. Apophis is currently classified as an Aten-type asteroid, which is the name we give to a class of near-Earth objects that have a shorter orbit than Earth’s. Apophis currently reaches up to 0.92 astronomical units (137.6 million km or 85.5 million miles) from the Sun. However, our planet will give Apophis a gravitational nudge that will expand its orbit to 1.1 astronomical units (164.6 million km or 102 million miles), so that its orbital period will be longer than Earth’s.
It will later be classified as an Apollo-type asteroid.
Ramses won’t be the only one chasing Apophis. NASA has OSIRIS-REx missionReturning a sample from another near-Earth asteroid, 101955 BennuIn 2023. However, the spacecraft’s name was changed OSIRIS-APEX (Apophis Explorer) will not reach the asteroid until April 23, 2029, ten days after its close encounter with Earth. OSIRIS-APEX will first flyby to within about 4,000 km of Apophis, then return in June of that year to orbit Apophis for an 18-month mission.
Related Stories:
— ‘God of Destruction’ asteroid Apophis is coming to Earth in 2029 — and it could encounter some small spaceships
— How NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX asteroid probe survived its first close encounter with the Sun
— Car-sized asteroid narrowly escapes near Earth (video, photo)
Also, the European Space Agency still plans to launch its own spacecraft. Hera spacecraft To follow in October 2024 DART task for double asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos. DART hit the latter to test its kinetic impact capabilities to potentially alter the orbit of a hazardous asteroid around our planet. Hera will study the binary asteroid system and observe the crater created by DART’s sacrifice to gain a better understanding of Dimorphos’ post-impact structure and composition so we can put the results into context.
The more we study near-Earth asteroids like Dimorphos and Apophis, the broader the context becomes. Perhaps one day, the insights we gain from these missions will actually save our planet.