After successfully delivering NASA's first asteroid sample collected in space, the OSIRIS-REx mission, now renamed OSIRIS-APEX, is embarking on a new journey — this time to study an asteroid that will closely approach Earth in just a few years.
, the OSIRIS-REx mission, now renamed OSIRIS-APEX, is embarking on a new journey — this time to study an asteroid that will closely approach Earth in just a few years.
It's an extensive new chapter for a spacecraft that has already been on quite the journey. As OSIRIS-REx, it spent seven years on a round trip to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, which included time spent surveying, touching down on and collecting a sample from the space rock. C-type asteroids are made of clay and silicate rocks, while S-types are comprised of silicate materials and nickel-iron.
"Apophis is one of the most infamous asteroids," said Dani DellaGiustina, principal investigator of OSIRIS-APEX. "When it was first discovered in 2004, there was concern that it would impact the Earth in 2029 during its close approach. That risk was dismissed after subsequent observations, but it will be the closest an asteroid of this size has gotten in the 50 or so years asteroids have been closely tracked, or for the next 100 years of asteroids we have discovered so far.
The center maintains a risk list, tracking asteroids with orbits that bring them close to Earth — close enough to cause concern over a potential impact. Scientists at the center use radar and telescopes to study near-Earth objects and understand the dangers they may pose to the planet.
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