ESA's Ramses mission to study asteroid Apophis in 2029

The European Space Agency (ESA) is launching the Ramses mission to study asteroid 99942 Apophis, which will approach Earth within 20,000 miles on April 13, 2029. Ramses, named after an Egyptian pharaoh, aims to gather data on the asteroid's shape, surface, and orbit. This mission follows NASA's OSIRIS-APEX, which will arrive a month after Apophis's close approach.