A very interesting space mission that is at the same time kind of frightening:
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.
Oh really, an asteroid is making an "extremely close flyby" of our fragile planet in 5ish years? Excuse me for a second.
Thankfully, scientists don't expect it to, you know, crash into our surface:
Apophis, also known as the "God of Chaos," is expected to fly by Earth on April 13, 2029 from about only 20,000 miles away — closer than some manmade satellites and could even be visible in the Eastern Hemisphere.
Community Notes over on X is less than helpful:
"No chance... for at least a century."
How comforting!
My great-great-grandkid getting ready to sacrifice himself to blow the asteroid to kingdom come:
If the rock were to crash into our planet, it could create serious problems. The asteroid is estimated to be "around 370 yards across," or over 1,000 feet. Note that one of the most well-documented catastrophic asteroid incidents in human history — the Tunguska event of 1908 — is estimated to have been caused by a rock about 200 feet in size. And when it exploded in central Russia, it did this:
So I don't think any of us are too keen on having a 1,000-foot asteroid blow up above us!
The mission to the asteroid will explore "how its surface changes" as it nears Earth; the spacecraft will also "go within 16 feet of the rock's surface so it can fire its thrusters downward to see what it is stirred up."
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