ESA and JAXA advance potential Apophis mission collaboration

Ramses is ESA’s proposed mission to rendezvous with the 375 m asteroid Apophis and accompany it through a safe but exceptionally close flyby of Earth in 2029.

With Ramses, ESA would seize a once-in-a-millennium opportunity to study a large asteroid as its physical characteristics are altered by the pull of Earth’s gravity.

Researchers would use the data gathered by Ramses to improve our ability to defend our planet from any asteroids found to be on a collision course in the future.

Europe’s space ministers will decide whether to support Ramses at ESA’s Ministerial Council in November 2025. As the spacecraft would need to launch in 2028 in order to reach Apophis in time, preliminary work is underway to ensure the feasibility of the mission.

JAXA is already an important participant in ESA’s first planetary defence mission, Hera, now enroute to asteroid Didymos. The two agencies have been working together in recent months to identify possible areas of collaboration on Ramses.

As a result, JAXA has now made an official funding request to the Government of Japan, in parallel to ESA’s request at the upcoming Ministerial Council.

The JAXA contributions to Ramses would include the provision of the spacecraft’s solar arrays and infrared imager, as well as a rideshare launch on a Japanese H3 launch vehicle.

“Our experience working with our JAXA colleagues, first on the Hera mission and now on Ramses, has been excellent. We truly feel like one globally integrated team with a common goal,” said Paolo Martino, Ramses mission manager. “We would be glad to face the challenge of reaching Apophis together.”

“ESA welcomes JAXA’s increasing interest in participating in the Ramses mission. International collaboration lies at the heart of planetary defence, and we are very happy to see Europe and Japan continue to strengthen their partnership in this field,” said Holger Krag, Head of ESA’s Space Safety Programme.