NASA launches mission to intercept asteroid before it approaches Earth

Simulation of asteroid Apophis' approach to Earth on April 13, 2029

In September, OSIRIS-REx ended its seven-year mission, traveling a total of more than 6.43 billion kilometers to collect material samples from the asteroid Bennu. Instead of "retiring", the NASA spacecraft has been given a new mission.

Renamed OSIRIS-APEX, NASA's spacecraft is headed on a new journey to study the "destroyer" Apophis.

Asteroid Apophis is 340 meters across, named after the Egyptian goddess and nicknamed "Goddess of Chaos".

Discovered in 2004, Apophis is expected to approach Earth at its closest distance of 32,000 km, closer than some of Earth's satellites, on April 13, 2029.

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The probability of an asteroid the size of Apophis approaching Earth at such a close level only occurs once every 7,500 years, according to scientists ' calculations.

Initially, scientists thought the probability of Apophis hitting Earth was about 3%. However, many years later, they ruled out the possibility of an impact, and reassured the people of Earth that Apophis would not threaten Earth when it returned in 2036.

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