All articles tagged with #planetary defence
ESA and JAXA signed memoranda to deepen planetary-defence collaboration and advance the Ramses mission to rendezvous with asteroid Apophis ahead of its 2029 Earth flyby, with ESA leading spacecraft design and JAXA contributing key hardware to study tidal effects and improve deflection knowledge; the 2029 flyby will bring Apophis within about 32,000 km of Earth, presenting a rare science and public-engagement opportunity.
ESA's Juice spacecraft imaged interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it skimmed the Sun, illustrating how deep-space observations can reveal distant objects not visible from Earth and improve early warning by refining their orbits, a capability that complements Earth-based tracking and planetary-defense efforts.
Aarti Holla-Maini, director of UNOOSA, triggered the UN’s first global planetary‑defence alert when asteroid 2024 YR4’s Earth‑impact probability rose from under 0.05% to over 1%, reaching Torino level 3; a rapid international response and consideration of deflection were drafted, testing real‑world space governance. UNOOSA’s Vienna team also coordinates satellite registrations and disaster response, and while the risk subsided by early 2025, the episode underscored the growing challenges of space traffic.
Asteroid 2020 XR, measuring between 300 and 700 meters, will safely pass Earth on December 4, 2024, at a distance of nearly six times that between Earth and the Moon. Initially thought to have a small chance of impacting Earth in 2028, further analysis of past observations allowed astronomers to accurately calculate its orbit, ruling out any collision risk for at least the next century. The European Space Agency (ESA) continues to monitor such objects as part of its Planetary Defence activities.
ESA's Space Safety programme has received permission to begin preparatory work for the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses), which will rendezvous with asteroid 99942 Apophis and study its close flyby of Earth in 2029. The mission aims to improve our understanding of asteroid behavior and enhance planetary defense capabilities.
ESA's fireball camera in Cáceres, Spain, captured a meteor on the night of May 18-19, 2024. The meteor, likely a small piece of a comet, traveled at 45 km/s before burning up over the Atlantic Ocean. The object, estimated to be 1 meter in size and weighing 500-1000 kg, was not detected before impact due to its approach from a star-crowded region of the Milky Way.
The European Space Agency has announced that a large asteroid, named 2023 DZ2, will safely pass between Earth and the Moon on Saturday, coming within a third of the distance from Earth to the Moon. The asteroid is estimated to be 40 to 70 metres wide and will be used as a training exercise for planetary defence efforts. The asteroid will pass 175,000km from Earth at a speed of 28,000 kilometres per hour. The United Nations-endorsed International Asteroid Warning Network will carry out a “rapid characterisation” of 2023 DZ2, analysing the asteroid with a range of instruments such as spectrometers and radars.
An asteroid known as "city killer" will pass harmlessly between the orbits of Earth and the moon this weekend. The asteroid, measuring between 40 and 100 meters in size, will fly by at a distance of 105,633 miles from Earth. Experts will use radar to get more precise measurements for the object. The phrase "city killer" is used by experts in reference to two known asteroid impacts. There are currently more than 1,450 near-Earth objects on the "risk list."