* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Sacramento city leaders approve adding 2 entertainment zones in midtown – CBS News

    Sacramento City Leaders Approve Two Thrilling New Entertainment Zones in Midtown

    AMC brings first new Dolby Experience to Gwinnett since 2017 – Wyoming News Now

    AMC Launches First New Dolby Experience in Gwinnett Since 2017

    Hetzel Design: blending architecture and entertainment – Blooloop

    Hetzel Design: Where Architecture and Entertainment Unite in Perfect Harmony

    Country music legend rushed to hospital year after heart surgery. Here’s what we know – PennLive.com

    Country Music Legend Rushed to Hospital One Year After Heart Surgery – What’s Happening Now?

    Strictly Come Dancing results: Chris Robshaw is eliminated while drag queen La Voix escapes dance-off – Yahoo

    Strictly Come Dancing results: Chris Robshaw is eliminated while drag queen La Voix escapes dance-off – Yahoo

    Placer County town of Loomis considers entertainment zone for downtown – CBS News

    Loomis Unveils Thrilling New Entertainment Zone to Revitalize Downtown

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    A look into new technology at Columbia University that could help prevent a dangerous pregnancy complication – ABC7 New York

    A look into new technology at Columbia University that could help prevent a dangerous pregnancy complication – ABC7 New York

    Office Technology: Dealers’ Managed IT Revenue up Nearly 30% – The Cannata Report –

    Office Technology: Dealers’ Managed IT Revenue up Nearly 30% – The Cannata Report –

    3 E Network Technology Group Limited Closes $1.5 Million Convertible Promissory Note Offering – Quiver Quantitative

    3 E Network Technology Group Limited Closes $1.5 Million Convertible Promissory Note Offering – Quiver Quantitative

    3 Technology Stocks to Buy Now – Yahoo Finance

    3 Must-Buy Tech Stocks You Can’t Afford to Miss Right Now

    ‘New frontier’: Austin leaders start discussions on air taxi technology – KXAN Austin

    Austin Leaders Ignite Exciting Conversations on the Future of Air Taxi Technology

    How a Gemma model helped discover a new potential cancer therapy pathway – blog.google

    How a Gemma Model Revealed a Breakthrough Pathway for Cancer Treatment

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Sacramento city leaders approve adding 2 entertainment zones in midtown – CBS News

    Sacramento City Leaders Approve Two Thrilling New Entertainment Zones in Midtown

    AMC brings first new Dolby Experience to Gwinnett since 2017 – Wyoming News Now

    AMC Launches First New Dolby Experience in Gwinnett Since 2017

    Hetzel Design: blending architecture and entertainment – Blooloop

    Hetzel Design: Where Architecture and Entertainment Unite in Perfect Harmony

    Country music legend rushed to hospital year after heart surgery. Here’s what we know – PennLive.com

    Country Music Legend Rushed to Hospital One Year After Heart Surgery – What’s Happening Now?

    Strictly Come Dancing results: Chris Robshaw is eliminated while drag queen La Voix escapes dance-off – Yahoo

    Strictly Come Dancing results: Chris Robshaw is eliminated while drag queen La Voix escapes dance-off – Yahoo

    Placer County town of Loomis considers entertainment zone for downtown – CBS News

    Loomis Unveils Thrilling New Entertainment Zone to Revitalize Downtown

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    A look into new technology at Columbia University that could help prevent a dangerous pregnancy complication – ABC7 New York

    A look into new technology at Columbia University that could help prevent a dangerous pregnancy complication – ABC7 New York

    Office Technology: Dealers’ Managed IT Revenue up Nearly 30% – The Cannata Report –

    Office Technology: Dealers’ Managed IT Revenue up Nearly 30% – The Cannata Report –

    3 E Network Technology Group Limited Closes $1.5 Million Convertible Promissory Note Offering – Quiver Quantitative

    3 E Network Technology Group Limited Closes $1.5 Million Convertible Promissory Note Offering – Quiver Quantitative

    3 Technology Stocks to Buy Now – Yahoo Finance

    3 Must-Buy Tech Stocks You Can’t Afford to Miss Right Now

    ‘New frontier’: Austin leaders start discussions on air taxi technology – KXAN Austin

    Austin Leaders Ignite Exciting Conversations on the Future of Air Taxi Technology

    How a Gemma model helped discover a new potential cancer therapy pathway – blog.google

    How a Gemma Model Revealed a Breakthrough Pathway for Cancer Treatment

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Encounter With Infamy: OSIRIS-APEX Mission Sets Sights on the Notorious Asteroid Apophis

November 3, 2023
in Science
Encounter With Infamy: OSIRIS-APEX Mission Sets Sights on the Notorious Asteroid Apophis
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

OSIRIS-APEX Pursues Asteroid Apophis

OSIRIS-APEX pursues asteroid Apophis during its exceptionally close flyby of Earth on April 13, 2029. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission learned much about the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu and its risk to Earth. Now, the mission will change hands and target a different kind of potentially hazardous asteroid, Apophis.

After seven years in space and over 4 billion miles traveled, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission successfully collected and delivered the first U.S. sample from a near-Earth asteroid. Yet, after all this time and travel, the spacecraft will not retire.

Instead, NASA extended the University of Arizona-led mission so that the spacecraft can be used to study another near-Earth asteroid named Apophis. The mission was renamed OSIRIS-APEX, short for OSIRIS-APophis EXplorer. An overview of the mission was published in the Planetary Science Journal.

OSIRIS-REx deputy principal investigator Dani DellaGiustina is now the principal investigator for the OSIRIS-APEX mission.

Dani DellaGiustina

Dani DellaGiustina, principal investigator for the OSIRIS-APEX mission. Credit: Christopher Richards/University of Arizona

Encounter with Apophis

Twenty minutes after dropping the sample high above Earth’s atmosphere on September 24, the spacecraft fired its thrusters to put it on course to rendezvous with Apophis in 5½ years – just after Apophis makes its own close approach to Earth. This path includes three Earth gravity assists and several nail-bitingly close laps around the sun.

By April 2, 2029, the spacecraft cameras will begin collecting data as it approaches the asteroid. Apophis will also be closely observed by Earth-based telescopes. But in the hours after the close encounter, Apophis will appear too near the sun in the sky to be observed by Earth-based optical telescopes. This means any changes triggered by the close encounter will be best detected by spacecraft.

The spacecraft will catch up to the asteroid on April 13, 2029, as the asteroid wizzes 20,000 miles above Earth’s surface. Scientists will then spend the next 18 months studying the asteroid in detail. They’ll also disturb the material on the surface with the spacecraft to reveal what lies just beneath.

The Infamy of Apophis

“Apophis is an infamous asteroid,” said DellaGiustina, who is an assistant professor of planetary sciences at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. “When it was discovered in 2004, there was a scare that it was going to impact the Earth in 2029, but that risk was retired. Then there was another scare that it was going to impact the Earth exactly seven years later, in 2036, but observations combined with modeling now show that Apophis doesn’t pose a risk for at least the next one hundred years. Despite this, Apophis still has this role in the psyche of all of us who study these things. While it’s not going to impact the Earth in 2029, however, it does get very close.”

The 340-meter-wide Apophis is a stony, or S-type, asteroid made of silicate materials and nickel-iron, which are different than C-type asteroids like OSIRIS-REx’s first target, Bennu, which are rich in carbonaceous material. Apophis likely formed from a collision of a parent body in the asteroid belt that knocked it toward Earth’s neighborhood. The asteroid will pass closer than some of Earth’s orbiting satellites and one-tenth the distance to the moon. This is the closest approach by an asteroid of this size in modern history, and it will be visible to the naked eye in the Eastern Hemisphere. An asteroid of this size coming so close to Earth is rare, occurring roughly once every 7,500 years.

Selecting the Next Target

The mission considered visiting other targets – even Venus – but Apophis was chosen, because it was the only object that the spacecraft could closely rendezvous with, DellaGiustina said. The close approach allows scientists to study interactions with Earth’s gravitational forces, specifically tidal forces that could disturb its surface to reveal what lies beneath.

“Apophis gets close enough that there is some amount of activity that we are anticipating on its surface,” DellaGiustina said. “There might be landslides or particle ejections that create a comet-like tail. The close approach is a great natural experiment.

“We know that tidal forces and the accumulation of rubble pile material are foundational processes that could play a role in planet formation. They could inform how we got from debris in the early solar system to full-blown planets. Our best guess right now is that Apophis is, indeed, a rubble pile.”

Mission science goals are based on what is known about Apophis from ground-based observations, the team’s experiences at Bennu and current data for other S-type asteroids. Ultimately, the team hopes to understand the asteroid’s evolution and characteristics, including Apophis’ material strength, porosity, and density. All they learn can inform planetary defense research, especially because most of the potentially hazardous asteroids are also S-type asteroids like Apophis.

Bridging Meteorites and Asteroids

“We learned a lot at Bennu, but now we’re armed with even more questions,” said Amy Simon, OSIRIS-APEX mission project scientist and senior scientist for Planetary Atmospheres Research in the Solar System Exploration Division at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

For example, as deputy instrument scientist for the OSIRIS-REx Visible and near-IR Spectrometer, Simon and colleagues detected clay minerals and organics on Bennu, suggesting that the asteroid interacted with water in the past. Scientists predicted finding these on C-type asteroids like Bennu but were unable to detect it from ground-based observations.

Simon said she’s excited to see how Apophis looks different from expectations and from carbonaceous asteroids Bennu and Ryugu, which Japan visited with the Hayabusa 2 probe in 2018.

Getting up close and personal with these asteroids presents a unique opportunity for planetary scientists. Currently, scientific understanding of solar system formation is heavily informed by meteorites, which are pieces of other celestial bodies that fall to Earth. Asteroids are the primary parent bodies of meteorites but are usually observed from so far away that they appear only as points of light in the sky that reveal little about their global properties or surface variability.

The OSIRIS spacecraft science instruments were specifically designed to connect our understanding of meteorites to their parent asteroids by placing meteorite-scale rocks into geologic context on asteroids and investigating asteroids’ geologic processes at Bennu and very soon at Apophis.

Reference: “OSIRIS-APEX: An OSIRIS-REx Extended Mission to Asteroid Apophis” by Daniella N. DellaGiustina, Michael C. Nolan, Anjani T. Polit, Michael C. Moreau, Dathon R. Golish, Amy A. Simon, Coralie D. Adam, Peter G. Antreasian, Ronald-Louis Ballouz, Olivier S. Barnouin, Kris J. Becker, Carina A. Bennett, Richard P. Binzel, Brent J. Bos, Richard Burns, Nayessda Castro, Steven R. Chesley, Philip R. Christensen, M. Katherine Crombie, Michael G. Daly, R. Terik Daly, Heather L. Enos, Davide Farnocchia, Sandra Freund Kasper, Rose Garcia, Kenneth M. Getzandanner, Scott D. Guzewich, Christopher W. Haberle, Timothy Haltigin, Victoria E. Hamilton, Karl Harshman, Noble Hatten, Kyle M. Hughes, Erica R. Jawin, Hannah H. Kaplan, Dante S. Lauretta, Jason M. Leonard, Andrew H. Levine, Andrew J. Liounis, Christian W. May, Laura C. Mayorga, Lillian Nguyen, Lynnae C. Quick, Dennis C. Reuter, Bashar Rizk, Heather L. Roper, Andrew J. Ryan, Brian Sutter, Mathilde M. Westermann, Daniel R. Wibben, Bobby G. Williams, Kenneth Williams and C. W. V. Wolner, 31 October 2023, The Planetary Science Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/PSJ/acf75e

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : SciTechDaily – https://scitechdaily.com/encounter-with-infamy-osiris-apex-mission-sets-sights-on-the-notorious-asteroid-apophis/

Tags: EncounterInfamyscience
Previous Post

The Secret Behind Passing Out: New Brain-Heart Connection Identified

Next Post

Ancient Denisovan DNA Could Be Increasing Modern Humans’ Risk of Mental Health Disorders Like Depression

Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky remembered for his impact on the chess world – NPR

Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky: Honoring a Timeless Chess Legacy

October 22, 2025
Seattle’s Creative Economy: Building Talent, Culture, and Community – GeekWire

Seattle’s Creative Economy: How Talent, Culture, and Community Are Shaping the Future

October 22, 2025
Sacramento city leaders approve adding 2 entertainment zones in midtown – CBS News

Sacramento City Leaders Approve Two Thrilling New Entertainment Zones in Midtown

October 22, 2025
Self-efficacy mediates the effect of hope on health promotion intention in Chinese stroke patients – Nature

How Hope Boosts Health Motivation in Chinese Stroke Patients Through Self-Efficacy

October 22, 2025
Arizona AG sues to force House Speaker Johnson to seat Democrat Adelita Grijalva – NBC News

Arizona AG sues to force House Speaker Johnson to seat Democrat Adelita Grijalva – NBC News

October 22, 2025
Historic achievement: Governor Ferguson, Ecology celebrate nuclear waste officially being turned into glass at Hanford Site | Governor Bob Ferguson – Governor Ferguson (.gov)

Historic Breakthrough: Governor Ferguson and Ecology Celebrate Nuclear Waste Transformed into Glass at Hanford Site

October 22, 2025
Transcript: Mission to Mars — Bad science fiction – Financial Times

Mission to Mars: When Science Fiction Takes a Dark Turn

October 22, 2025
Science Hill, South Greene volleyball win TSSAA state tournament openers – WCYB

Science Hill and South Greene Dominate Opening Matches in TSSAA State Volleyball Tournament

October 22, 2025
GCC Influencer Market Jumps 75% As Lifestyle Creators Lead Growth – Net Influencer

GCC Influencer Market Soars 75% Fueled by Lifestyle Creators Leading the Boom

October 22, 2025
A look into new technology at Columbia University that could help prevent a dangerous pregnancy complication – ABC7 New York

A look into new technology at Columbia University that could help prevent a dangerous pregnancy complication – ABC7 New York

October 22, 2025

Categories

Archives

October 2025
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Sep    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (880)
  • Economy (902)
  • Entertainment (21,773)
  • General (17,740)
  • Health (9,943)
  • Lifestyle (914)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (902)
  • Politics (912)
  • Science (16,112)
  • Sports (21,401)
  • Technology (15,881)
  • World (885)

Recent News

Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky remembered for his impact on the chess world – NPR

Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky: Honoring a Timeless Chess Legacy

October 22, 2025
Seattle’s Creative Economy: Building Talent, Culture, and Community – GeekWire

Seattle’s Creative Economy: How Talent, Culture, and Community Are Shaping the Future

October 22, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version