An artist’s illustration of asteroid Apophis near Earth. The asteroid will fly extremely close to Earth in 2029, with no threat to our planet or for the foreseeable future. (Image credit: Dan Durda – FIAAA)

NASA wants fleet of spacecraft to watch infamous Apophis asteroid approach Earth: report

By Elizabeth Howell

NASA wants to bump up the number of visitors to Apophis when the asteroid swings safely by Earth in 2029.

NASA wants a fleet of small private spacecraft to visit an infamous asteroid during its upcoming close shave of Earth, a report suggests.

Apophis, though not a threat to our planet, will pass within the altitude of some satellites in 2029 and will even be visible to the naked eye. The space agency is now floating an idea for industry to create a fleet of tiny spacecraft to watch the asteroid‘s every move.

These theoretical spacecraft would be in addition to NASA’s showcase mission: OSIRIS-APEX or OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer, which will repurpose the ongoing OSIRIS-REx asteroid sampling mission for a study of Apophis.