Once feared as a threat to Earth, the asteroid Apophis is now considered to pose a rare exploration opportunity — if space ...

But the ultimate decision on committing to the mission will take place at ESA’s Ministerial Council meeting in November 2025. First discovered in 2004, Apophis is named for the Egyptian god of ...

ESA's planned Ramses mission would arrive at the asteroid Apophis two months before the asteroid's April 2029 close flyby of Earth. Credit: ESA BUSAN, South Korea — The European Space Agency ...

The mission aims to be ready for launch in early 2028, ensuring the spacecraft can reach Apophis approximately two months before its April 2029 flyby. ESA hopes this planetary defense mission will ...

Today, ESA's Space Safety program takes another ... work for its next planetary defense mission—the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses). Ramses will rendezvous with the asteroid ...

ESA signed a contract worth €63 million ... teams to proceed with phase 1 of mission development. The Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety mission, or Ramses for short, faces a race against ...

Ramses is short for Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety ... and appropriation of funding for the Ramses mission will hopefully take place at ESA's Ministerial Council meeting (involving ...

The mission is called the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety—or Ramses—and the ESA is hoping to launch it by 2028. That is, of course, a very ambitious timeline, especially since the ESA ...

The ESA's new asteroid mission is designed around 99942 Apophis, an asteroid that crosses Earth's orbit every 17 years or so. Astronomers have ruled out an impact for at least the next 100 years ...