NASA launches mission to intercept ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid as it nears Earth’s orbit
The OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft has been sent off to study the asteroid Apophis – also known as the “God of Chaos”- to “take advantage of the asteroid’s 2029 flyby of Earth…
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A NASA spacecraft that recently returned from deep space has been relaunched for a mission to study the “God of Chaos” asteroid as it begins to near Earth’s orbit.
The agency’s spacecraft OSIRIS-REx — now named the OSIRIS-APEX — has been sent off to study the asteroid Apophis’ extremely close flyby of Earth in 2029, the likes of which “hasn’t happened since the dawn of recorded history,” NASA announced.
The spacecraft returned to Earth in September after spending seven years collecting samples from the space rock Bennu.
Apophis, also known as the “God of Chaos,” is expected to fly by Earth on April 13, 2029, about only 20,000 miles away — closer than some manmade satellites — and could even be visible in the Eastern Hemisphere.
The rock, which measures around 370 yards across, only comes this close to Earth every 7,500 years
Earth’s gravity will affect the space rock as it nears orbit and OSIRIS-APEX will study the aftermath to see “how its surface changes,” according to Amy Simon, the mission’s project scientist.
The effects of Earth are expected to change the length of the asteroid’s day, which is currently around 30.6 hours. It could also cause the “God of Chaos” to experience landslides and quakes.
“We know that tidal forces and the accumulation of rubble pile material are foundational processes that could play a role in planet formation,” Dani Mendoza DellaGiustina, principal investigator for OSIRIS-APEX at the University of Arizona in Tucson, said in a statement.
“They could inform how we got from debris in the early solar system to full-blown planets.”
The spacecraft will meet the S-type asteroid on April 13, 2029, but will not land on it, rather “operate in proximity” to it for 18 months. Not only will it look at surface changes, but it will map the surface and analyze the rock’s chemical makeup, NASA said.
