![]() Mission insignia | |
Mission type | Asteroid probe |
---|---|
Operator | ESA, JAXA |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 2028 |
Rocket | H3 |
Ramses (Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety) is a proposed European-Japanese planetary defense mission to a near-Earth asteroid (99942) Apophis, led by the European Space Agency (ESA). If approved, it is expected to be launched between mid April and mid May 2028 and to arrive at Apophis in February 2029 before its closest approach to Earth. [1] [2] It will conduct measurements of the asteroid's properties before and during the Earth flyby to study its response to the close encounter with the planet. [3] [4] [5] At the asteroid, Ramses will deploy two smaller CubeSats. [6] Ramses will leverage much of the technology developed for the Hera mission. [7]
In July 2024, ESA’s Space Safety programme has received permission to begin preparatory work for Ramses. [8] The project has been awarded 1.5 million euros for the preparations. [9] and in October 2024, ESA signed a contract with OHB Italia SpA for preliminary work on the mission. [10] [11] ESA also unveiled the official mission patch. [12]
In March 2025, ESA has selected the first of two CubeSats to fly onboard Ramses. The mission team revealed that they were considering whether the second CubeSat could be a lander that would touch down on Apophis. [6] In April 2025, ESA has selected the Spanish company Emxys to build the second CubeSat, indeed intended to land on Apophis, [13] and GomSpace (Denmark) to provide system engineering support for the lander CubeSat project. [14]
In August 2025, JAXA has made an official funding request to the Government of Japan to participate in the mission. JAXA plans to contribute the probe's solar arrays, infrared imager, and a rideshare launch on the H3 rocket. [15] On the European side, the funding decision is expected to be made in late 2025 at the ESA Ministerial Council. [16]
The first selected CubeSat will be built by Tyvak International (Italy), a company that developed the Milani CubeSat for the Hera mission. The small spacecraft will combine the dust analyser of Milani with the low-frequency radar of Juventas, another CubeSat of Hera. The dust analyser will study material released from the surface of Apophis and the radar will investigate the asteroid's internal structure. [6]
The second CubeSat, being developed by a consortium led by Emxys (Spain), will attempt landing on Apophis. Its main task will be to provide high resolution imagery of the asteroid's surface from a distance of just a few kilometres. [13] [14] If the landing is successful, the CubeSat will also measure the asteroid's seismic activity during its exceptionally close flyby of Earth. Emxys previously contributed to the GRASS gravimeter on Hera's Juventas CubeSat. [9]