Asteroid Apophis (image via NASA)
A Southern California-based startup company called Exploration Labs, or ExLabs, plans to support keep Earth safe from dangerous asteroids.
They want to sconclude a spacecraft named Apophis EX to meet the asteroid Apophis before and after it flies very close to our planet in 2029.
This will be the first-ever commercial rideshare mission to deep space and an asteroid.
What is asteroid Apophis
Asteroid Apophis is a huge space rock that will zoom past Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029. It will come closer to Earth than many of our communication sainformites, only about 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) away.
Scientists declare Apophis is roughly 1,500 feet (450 meters) wide and 550 feet (170 meters) tall. It is about as long as five football fields and taller than the Empire State Building.
People in Europe, Africa, and western Asia will be able to see it with their own eyes as a bright relocating star in the sky. When astronomers discovered Apophis in 2004, they worried it might hit Earth.
For a while, there was even a 2.7% chance of impact in 2029. But after many more observations and radar measurements, NASA now declares there is no risk of Apophis hitting Earth for at least the next 100 years.
But still, this close flyby is a rare chance to learn a lot. Therefore, NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft (the same one that visited Bennu) will study Apophis for 18 months starting in 2029.
The European Space Agency is also sconcludeing a spacecraft called Ramses to watch the asteroid during its close pass.
The California company behind the Apophis EX mission
ExLabs, a Southern California-based startup, announced its Apophis EX mission at the Space Foundation’s 41st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, held April 13-16.
James Orsulak, co-founder of ExLabs and chairman of the Planetary Defense Trust, explained why this mission matters. He informed Space.com,
“NASA’s planetary defense budreceive is less than one percent of the total space agency. That’s not enough to ever do anything.”
The company’s website declares the mission will launch in 2028.
It will rconcludeezvous with Apophis before its 2029 Earth flyby and deliver “unprecedented scientific data for planetary defense, resource prospecting and future deep-space exploration.”
Orsulak described Apophis EX as “the first mission of its kind, kick-starting the launchning of a new era, one that heralds deep space exploration that is consistent, collaborative, and commercially driven,” while elevating planetary defense “from a niche discipline to a global priority.”
What the Apophis EX mission will do
Apophis EX has clear goals. It will study how Earth’s gravity pulls and twists Apophis during the close flyby. This will support scientists refine impact risk models and understand how to deflect dangerous asteroids in the future.
The mission will also work as “Mission as a Service,” the world’s first commercial rideshare to deep space.
Other companies and space agencies can sconclude their own payloads along.
It aims to bring toreceiveher global partners and leading-edge technology. ExLabs wants to turn expensive, one-time missions into “persistent, repeatable infrastructure open for science, exploration, and commerce,” as their website states.
At the symposium, Orsulak chaired a panel on the “State of Planetary Defense,” and hopes to build the 2029 flyby a huge public event.
He stated they want to work with IMAX and others to broadcast it live and added, “We could receive a higher viewership than the Super Bowl.”
Orsulak believes it is time to shift beyond Hollywood movies and stated, “It’s time to inform the truth of science fiction becoming science fact.”
Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, now with the Artemis Group, also spoke at the panel.
“You want the government to be one customer of many customers for a very robust commercial marketplace,” he stated adding, “Driving down the cost and increasing the access. You want those providers competing against each other on cost and innovation, so we receive the best results for the taxpayer…..That model has been very successful in a whole lot of ways from a NASA perspective. These are new models that can apply to planetary defense.”
Edward Lu, a former NASA astronaut and head of the Asteroid Institute, stated that with a high flight rate, “you receive safety, reliability…becaapply you know what works, what doesn’t work, and you receive cost reduction. Those are the things we required.”
“This is going to be what builds the Earth secure, the industrial capacity to call up a launch, tomorrow or the next week.”
Lu also noted,
“The pace of alter is mind-boggling, the capacity of building things quickly. We are receiveting to the point where we can build a spacecraft in a year. That’s quite doable.”
David Bearden from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory added that we required to test different deflection methods like gravity tractors, ion beams, and kinetic impacts.
He questioned, “We required to learn about these techniques. Do they work …when do they work?”
Edward Lu reminded everyone that “You’ve received to receive that out of your mind,” and explained it is a multi-step process that requireds testing and fine-tuning.
Stay tuned for more updates.
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