NASA's Osiris probe to observe 'hazardous' asteroid Apophis on its 2029 flyby of Earth

NASA's Osiris-Rex spacecraft which delivered the Bennu asteroid samples in September is racing toward its new target - Apophis - which is due to make a close encounter with our planet a little over four years from now. 

The spacecraft was granted a mission extension after it dropped about 250 grams of asteroid samples on September 24 and steered itself toward Apophis, which is one of the many potentially hazardous asteroids identified by NASA. 

According to estimates, the 340-meter-wide asteroid will get as close as 32,000 kilometers from Earth, a distance less than some of the geosynchronous satellites. NASA says that the space rock will be visible without any telescope in the eastern hemisphere. 

The probe, now named Osiris-Apex (Apophis explorer) will also rendezvous with the asteroid in 2029 and orbit it for 1.5 years to see how the encounter affected its orbit, spin state, and surface. 

Earth is safe from Apophis (for now)

Discovered in 2004, the Apophis asteroid made astronomers nervous when they found a high risk of impact in 2029. It was also conveniently named after the demon serpent who personified evil and chaos in ancient Egyptian mythology.

The possibility of an impact was ruled out after additional observations refined the asteroid's trajectory and the year shifted to 2036 and then to 2068. The data now suggests that Earth is safe from Apophis for at least the next 100 years.

“A 2068 impact is not in the realm of possibility anymore, and our calculations don’t show any impact risk for at least the next 100 years,” said Davide Farnocchia of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), in an official statement.

During the impending close encounter in 2029, scientists hope to take the closest look at a celestial object as big as Apophis. Experts say that the asteroid's flyby of Earth could change its spin state and cause "asteroid quakes." 

Like many another ancient asteroids, Apophis has been a subject of interest since it is believed to be a time capsule hiding secrets of the early solar system. Scientists have estimated that Apophis is billions of years old with its mineralogy and chemistry intact since the beginning. This is what interests scientists as they could offer unprecedented insights into the development and the evolution of the solar system.