"Hazardous asteroid" Apophis to make close flyby of Earth in five years; How are scientists prepping for it?

Washington DC, United States

A potentially hazardous asteroid will swing by Earth at an eerily close distance of less than 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometres) in about five years.

On 13 April 2029, Apophis will pass by Earth, coming ten times closer than the Moon. Scientists first discovered it in 2004 and have designated the 1,100-foot-wide (335 metres) near-Earth object that could impact our planet as a "hazardous asteroid." 

However, later observations revealed that it has no chance of crashing into Earth for at least another century. Moreover, scientists wish to take full advantage of the upcoming event and explore the asteroid. They hope to document the potential changes by comparing observations of the asteroid before and after its encounter with Earth. Some researchers believe the physical changes to the asteroids could alter its orbital path.

Private space companies have proposed missions to rendezvous with Apohpus ahead of its highly-awaited flyby, SpaceNews reported. 

One of these companies, Blue Origins, has proposed using the Blue Ring orbital platform to deliver payloads to the asteroid. Blue Ring will make its debut by the end of 2024. It provides end-to-end services for commercial and government customers and can host payloads of up to 6,600 pounds (3,000 kilograms).

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Meanwhile, Exabs proposed an idea that NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) had studied previously. They said the DROID (Distributed Radar Observations of Interior Distributions) would deploy two CubeSats to perform a "CAT" scan of Apophis' interior. The mission would launch in May 2028 and arrive at Apophis in February 2029. 

In February, NASA held a workshop to seek ideas from the private sector on "innovative approaches to conduct missions during the Earth flyby of the asteroid Apophis in 2029."

NASA's OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft is already on its way to study the asteroid after dropping off samples from the Bennu asteroid in the Utah desert. The space agency also has a spare spacecraft, Psyche, designed to visit asteroids 1996 FG3 and 1991 VH. NASA also assigned it to the Janus mission. But that did not work out. 

However, this is just the beginning. Many space agencies and other private companies can announce space missions around the rare event in the upcoming years.

(With inputs from agencies)