ESA wants to study asteroid Apophis during close Earth flyby with Ramses mission

Nasa Space

Learn about ESA's proposed Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses) mission to study the space rock during its close flyby of Earth in April 2029.

Transcript

00:00Friday, the 13th of April, 2029, will be humankind's lucky day.

00:06Apophis, a 375-metre-wide asteroid, will safely pass Earth at a distance of less than 32,000 kilometres.

00:15An asteroid this large passes this close to Earth once every roughly 7,000 years,

00:21and the European Space Agency will have a front-row seat.

00:30Meet Ramses.

00:33ESA's Space Safety Program is sending Ramses to rendezvous with Apophis

00:38and study the asteroid up close as it is pulled and stretched by Earth's gravity.

00:45Ramses will deploy two smaller spacecraft to help it record any changes to the asteroid's orbit,

00:52rotation, surface and interior.

00:54With Ramses, ESA is capitalizing on a unique opportunity to learn how asteroids react to strong forces

01:02and how we could push one off of a collision course if we are not so lucky next time.

01:10When the world looks up to see Apophis passing overhead,

01:14Ramses will be flying alongside, providing close-up images and learning how to keep Earth safe.

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