The European Space Agency (Esa) has announced funding for preparatory work on the Rapid Apophis Mission for Security and Safety (Ramses).
Under this mission a spacecraft will be sent to the asteroid 99942 Apophis to glean information about its size, shape, mass and the way it spins as it hurtles through space.
The mission will also shed light on the composition and internal structure of Apophis, as well as its orbit, and explore how the asteroid changes as it passes within 32,000km of Earth on 13 April 2029.
Roughly 375 m across, about the size of a cruise liner, the asteroid Apophis will pass within 32 000 km from Earth’s surface on 13 April 2029.
For a short time, it will be visible to the naked eye in clear, dark skies for around two billion people. It was discovered in 2004.
Astronomers have ruled out any chance that the asteroid will collide with our planet for at least the next 100 years. But the Apophis flyby in April 2029 is an extremely rare natural phenomenon.
