We have an update on everyone’s favorite rock puncher. On April 25, NASA announced that the OSIRIS-REx mission will be extended to visit asteroid Apophis after it delivers its sample of Bennu to Earth next year. The new mission, called OSIRIS-APEX, for OSIRIS Apophis Explorer, will spend eighteen months orbiting the asteroid once considered a threat to Earth.

When it was discovered in 2004, Apophis was predicted to impact the Earth in 2029, causing a disaster. Happily, more data on its orbit has subsequently ruled that out.

OSIRIS-APEX will even conduct another one of the Touch and Go (TAG) maneuvers, though not to collect a sample as there’s nothing to return it in; rather, they’ll do it just to reveal some of the asteroid’s subsurface.

More Information

The University of Arizona press release