Overview
- Space agencies have confirmed that 99942 Apophis will pass about 32,000 kilometers above Earth on April 13, 2029, a distance inside the altitude of many geostationary satellites.
- NASA has said there is no risk of impact from Apophis for at least the next 100 years, removing collision concerns that followed the asteroid’s 2004 discovery.
- Multiple missions are being planned to observe the event, including JAXA’s DESTINY+ approaching beforehand, ESA’s Ramses with proposed landers and CubeSats, and NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX set to rendezvous after closest approach.
- Scientists expect Earth’s tidal forces during the flyby could change Apophis’s rotation, trigger surface movement or landslides, and permanently alter its orbit from an Aten to an Apollo with a longer period.
- The asteroid should become briefly visible to the naked eye from parts of Europe, Africa and Asia and the coordinated campaign will refine detection, tracking and response methods used in planetary defense.