OSIRIS-APEX: NASA's Renamed Probe Continues Asteroid Exploration

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, which successfully collected and delivered the first U.S. sample from a near-Earth asteroid, has been extended and renamed OSIRIS-APEX to study another asteroid named Apophis. The spacecraft will rendezvous with Apophis in 5½ years, just after its close approach to Earth, and spend the next 18 months studying the asteroid in detail. This close encounter with Apophis, which will pass closer than some of Earth's satellites, presents a rare opportunity to study interactions with Earth's gravitational forces and learn more about the asteroid's evolution and characteristics. The mission aims to inform planetary defense research and understand the processes involved in planet formation.