Current Affair 1:

News:

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is seeking to collaborate with the European Space Agency (ESA) on its recently announced Rapid Apophis Mission for Security and Safety (Ramses) mission to track and study the Apophis asteroid that is slated to make a close encounter with the Earth in 2029.

Asteroid 99942 Apophis is a near-Earth object (NEO) estimated to be about 1,100 feet (335 meters) across.

 

The Ramses spacecraft would approach the asteroid, which is about 375 m at its widest, before it comes to the closest distance to Earth and then accompany it on its pathway for some time, in a mission similar to the one planned for NASA’s OSIRIX-APEX spacecraft.

ESA is the second major space agency, after NASA, to commit a space mission for Apophis that was once considered to be on a pathway to collide with the Earth.

Apophis will come within 32,000 km of the Earth in 2029, offering space agencies a rare opportunity to study an asteroid from such close quarters.

 

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