Russia's Apophis Mission to Help Clarify the Asteroid's Origin

Vladislav Osdelo noted that Apophis's approach to Earth is a unique physical experiment carried out by nature itself.

Moscow, October 12. /TASS/. The Russian mission to asteroid Apophis, which is being prepared by Moscow State University, could provide fundamental new information about its origin and evolution, Vladislav Usdelo, research vice president of the university's Skobelsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, told TASS.

On April 13, 2029, the asteroid will pass 32,000 km from Earth's surface. This space object poses no threat, but approaching it creates unique conditions for researchers to study it. In Russia, Lomonosov Moscow State University has launched a mission to Apophis. In an earlier conversation with TASS, Moscow State University President Viktor Sadovnichy stressed its importance for predicting asteroid threats on a larger scale. Researchers of the Institute of Nuclear Physics are currently working on the technical parameters of a spacecraft and its flight to the asteroid.

"One of the devices [planned to be installed on the ship] is a gamma spectrometer," the researcher said on the sidelines of the Science 0+ international festival held in Moscow over the weekend. "Gamma rays emitted by a material can help researchers determine its elemental composition from a distance and gain completely new information about the origin and evolution of asteroid materials."

He noted that Apophis' approach to Earth was a unique physical experiment conducted by nature itself. Researchers are especially eager to obtain important data on the effects of the Earth's gravitational field on the asteroid and its surface.

Apophis, discovered in 2004, is about 350 meters in diameter. NASA's OSIRIS-APEX and European Space Agency's RAMSES missions are going to observe this asteroid.

The Science 0+ Festival is one of the key events of the Russian Science and Technology Decade, announced by President Vladimir Putin. This festival has been held in Russia and abroad since 2006 at the initiative of Victor Sadovnichy, President of Moscow State University.

More than 10,000 events took place in 300 locations across Moscow on October 9-11. Before the end of the year, festival activities will be held in Belarus, China, Serbia, India and some other countries as part of BRICS 0+ Science Week. TASS is the public information partner of the Science 0+ festival.