The European Space Agency (ESA) has deepened its relationship with Japanese counterpart the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) under a new joint statement that will see them collaborate further.
Over the past two decades ESA and Jaxa have collaborated on a number of missions. The most recent is the EarthCARE satellite, which lifted off in May 2024 to study clouds and aerosols in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The latest joint statement between the two involves collaborating on ESA’s Ramses mission to the asteroid Apophis. Roughly 375 metres across, the asteroid will pass within 32,000 km from Earth’s surface on 13 April 2029. Being this close to Earth is an extremely rare natural phenomenon.
As part of ESA’s Space Safety programme, the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses) mission will rendezvous with the asteroid and accompany it through its flyby of Earth. Researchers will study the asteroid as Earth’s gravity alters its physical characteristics. ESA says that the findings will...