Ramses (spacecraft)

The official ESA RAMSES patch.
The official ESA RAMSES patch.

Ramses, or Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety, is a proposed ESA mission to a near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis. If approved, it is expected to be launched in April 2028, to arrive at Apophis in February 2029, before its closest approach to Earth. It will conduct multiple measurements of the asteroid's properties, to study possible response in case such an asteroid would be on a collision course with Earth.[1][2][3][clarification needed]

ESA signed a contract with OHB Italia SpA for preliminary work on the mission in October 2024 and has also unveil the official mission patch. A funding decision is expected to be made in late 2025 at the ESA Ministerial Council. Ramses will be "an adaptation of Hera", launched in 2024.[4][5]

  1. ^ Morelli, Andrea C.; Mannocchi, Alessandra; et al. (September 2023). "Initial Trajectory Assessment of the RAMSES Mission to (99942) Apophis". arXiv:2309.00435 [astro-ph.EP].
  2. ^ "Introducing Ramses, ESA's mission to asteroid Apophis". www.esa.int. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  3. ^ Bartels, Meghan. "Europe Announces New Mission to Infamous Asteroid Apophis". Scientific American. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  4. ^ "ESA moves forward with Apophis mission preparations". ESA. 17 October 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  5. ^ Parsonson, Andrew (18 October 2024). "ESA Awards OHB a €63M Contract for Ramses Planetary Defence Mission". European Spaceflight. Retrieved 13 November 2024.