In less than half a decade, a 305-foot-wide asteroid named after Apophis, the Egyptian god of chaos and destruction, will pass within 30,000 miles (48,300 kilometers) of Earth. Scientists do not intend to let rare close passes of a space rock this size go to waste.
On April 13, 2029 – a Friday, no less – when Apophis, officially known as (99942) Apophis, makes its closest approach to Earth, it will become so prominent over our planet that it will be visible to the naked eye. NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft (once known as OSIRIS-REx) will be on hand to personally rendezvous with the near-Earth asteroid (NEA). But if things go well, a number of small satellites may also join the NASA mission during the rendezvous.
As part of the auspicious “NEAlight” project, a team led by aerospace engineer Hakan Kayal from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) has come up with three concepts for such spacecraft. Each of the proposed satellites will aim to take advantage of this asteroid pass, as Earth experiences such an event every thousand years. Aim? Collecting data that could help scientists better understand the solar system and even develop defenses against dangerous asteroids.
Relating to: Asteroid Apophis will pass by Earth in 2029; Could a space rock collision cause it to hit us?
As for why Apophis is a suitable target for planetary defense work? Discovered in 2004, the asteroid quickly rose to the top of charts measuring the risk of potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs), or asteroids that are 460 feet (140 meters) wide or more and come within 20 lunar distances. Soil.
Both Apophis’ size and how close its orbit is to Earth mean that the asteroid has been on both the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) PHAs “impact risk list” and NASA’s Sentinel Risk Table for 17 years. kept him at the top. That was until a flyby of the asteroid (a space rock nearly as wide as the height of the Empire State Building) in March 2021 allowed NASA scientists to determine that Apophis would not, in fact, hit Earth for at least 100 years.
While we now know that Apophis will not collide with Earth in the next century, its scientific impact in 2029 will still be enormous, and space agencies in countries around the world will be monitoring its orbit closely.
Apophis, an asteroid that formed around the same time as the planets from leftover material around the infant sun, also offers researchers a unique opportunity to determine what the chemical composition of the solar system was about 4.6 billion years ago.
Meet appointment candidates
Although we are aware of approximately 1.3 million asteroids in the solar system, 2,500 of which are considered potentially hazardous (though none are expected to hit Earth for at least a century), spacecraft missions to study asteroids are relatively rare.
To date, only 20 missions have been deployed to study asteroids in situ; these include the aforementioned OSIRIS-REx, Japan’s Hayabusa1 and Hayabusa2 rovers, ESA’s Rosetta space probe, and the asteroid-hopping NASA mission Lucy, currently traveling to the Trojan asteroids. They share orbits with Jupiter. Therefore, the JMU team needs to carefully consider its options when evaluating a future asteroid-probing spacecraft.
The team’s initial concept is a small satellite that will accompany Apophis for two months as it approaches Earth in April 2029. The craft will remain attached to the “God of Destruction” space rock for weeks. is walking away. Throughout the mission, this German national spacecraft will photograph Apophis and make measurements documenting the changes NEA underwent during its flyby.
This particular mission will be a challenging one due to its duration, the distance that will have to be covered, and the fact that the vehicle will have to operate autonomously for long periods of time. It will also need to be launched at least a year before Apophis reaches near Earth.
The team’s second concept involves integration with a larger spacecraft called RAMSES planned by ESA. This mission will be equipped with smaller satellites, measuring equipment and telescopes. RAMSES, named after the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses the Great, would travel to Apophis and stay near the asteroid as it passed by Earth.
If the second concept is implemented, one of the small satellites carried by RAMSES will be designed by the JMU team. This project will require less technical effort than the initial concept and promises to yield more scientific information.
However, one of the main problems faced by the second concept is related to realizing REMESES in a figurative rather than a literal sense. Its success will depend on the willingness of ESA partner countries to fund the mission. Again, a lead time of at least 365 days will be needed to ensure the success of this concept.
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The third concept involves a small satellite that would fly past Apophis for only a short time when the asteroid is closest to Earth, capturing images of the asteroid in the process. This concept would require much less effort and the craft would be relatively inexpensive.
However, the disadvantage of concept 3 is that the observation period is limited and will also limit the volume of information this mission will add to our understanding of asteroids.
The good thing is that the small-scale mission can start just two days before Apophis arrives. Additionally, if Concept 3 were to successfully observe Apophis, it would demonstrate the ability of small, inexpensive satellites to study asteroids, perhaps leading to increased interest in prospective in situ asteroid survey missions.
The NEAlight project started at the beginning of May 2024; JMU scientists will work on the requirements and specifications of the respective missions between now and April 30, 2025.
Beyond the visit of Apophis, the three concepts under consideration may remain options for future missions to other solar system planets, the moon, or perhaps other interesting NEAs.