OSIRIS-REx, a NASA spacecraft, is returning to Earth to deliver its prized cargo, asteroid Bennu soil. However, after delivering the capsule, the spacecraft will go on a new mission: exploring the asteroid Apophis, a dangerous Near-Earth Object. Apophis has been in the headlines since its discovery in 2004 because orbital calculations predicted it may collide with Earth. We now know that we will be safe for at least a century from it, and given its close approach to our planet on occasion, it is a fascinating thing to study.
The mission’s name has also changed, from OSIRIS-REx to OSIRIS-APEX. Some members of the present team will focus on sample analysis, while others will work on the new goal. Current main investigator Dante Lauretta will continue to lead the sample return, while mission deputy Dani DellaGiustina will take over as OSIRIS-chief APEX’s investigator. In a statement, DellaGiustina remarked, “Apophis is one of the most infamous asteroids.”
“When it was found in 2004, there was worry that it will collide with the Earth during its close approach in 2029. After further studies, that risk was eliminated, but it will be the closest an asteroid of this size has been in the 50 years or so that asteroids have been closely followed, or in the next 100 years of asteroids we have detected so far. During the 2029 encounter, it comes within a tenth of the distance between the Earth and the moon. It will be so close that people in Europe and Africa will be able to view it with their bare eyes. We were ecstatic to learn that the mission had been extended.”
The first course adjustment will take place in October 2023, around a month after the sample is dropped off. The spacecraft will orbit the Sun for several years before colliding with Apophis on April 21, 2029, barely a week after the asteroid comes near to Earth. It will spend 18 months studying the asteroid. “OSIRIS-APEX is an expression of our mission’s basic goal of enabling the next generation of space exploration leadership.” Lauretta expressed her admiration for Dani and the APEX team. “Dani began working with us as an undergraduate student in 2005.
Her decision to lead the journey to the asteroid Apophis exemplifies the University of Arizona’s great educational possibilities.” OSIRIS-REx is a record-breaking mission for NASA. The spacecraft orbited the asteroid at a distance of just 690 meters (2,264 feet), breaking the record for the smallest object ever orbited by a spacecraft as well as the closest orbit.
