Mastodawn

Had the pleasure to attend the signature of this #ESA - #JAXA agreement on Planetary Defence and cooperation with the #RAMSESmission - less than 2 years to launch and counting #Berlin #DLR
https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Planetary_Defence/ESA_and_JAXA_team_up_on_planetary_defence_Ramses_mission_to_asteroid_Apophis

ESA and JAXA team up on planetary defence, Ramses mission to asteroid Apophis

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to deepen collaboration in planetary defence, alongside a dedicated agreement for collaboration on the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses) to the near-Earth asteroid Apophis.

Dr. Manuel Metz Feb 12

My colleague wrote a nice Blog about the #ESA #RAMSESmission
https://www.dlr.de/en/blog/archive/ramses-mission-rps-and-marie-to-investigate-asteroid-apophis-passage-through-earth-s-magnetosphere
#asteroid #planetarydefence

RAMSES mission: RPS and MARIE to investigate asteroid Apophis' passage through Earth's magnetosphere

The RAMSES space probe is a replica of ESA's Hera mission, with minor modifications to the spacecraft and some new instruments. Like Hera, RAMSES will also deploy two small satellites: the CubeSats 'Farinella' and 'Don Quijote'.

Michael Busch Jan 6

There are new updates on the #RamsesMission website about ESA sending the spacecraft to #Apophis in 2029: https://www.ramsesmission.space/ .

(Officially "Ramses" is an acronym. In practice, nobody ever spells it out.)

RAMSES Mission

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Michael Busch Apr 23, 2024

Discussion of the #RAMSESmission proposal from ESA to rendezvous with #Apophis before the 2029 flyby; for which a decision needs to be made soon.

Operations plan notes that orbiting the asteroid would be impossible during the flyby.

(Again, the #OSIRISAPEx mission from NASA will catch up with Apophis only after the flyby; but even then it will mostly formation-fly and make hyperbolic passes rather than orbiting.)