OSIRIS-APEX, a follow-on to OSIRIS-REx, will study the physical changes to asteroid Apophis after the asteroid’s rare close encounter with Earth in 2029.
| Date | 30 September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Days Since Launch | 3674 days (10.06 years) |
| Days of APEX | 1102 days (3.02 years) |
| Distance from Earth | 89.3 Million km (0.60 AU) |
| Distance from Sun | 167 Million km (1.12 AU) |
| One Way Light Time | 4 minutes, 58 seconds |
| Round Trip Light Time | 9 minutes, 56 seconds |
As of April 13, the Apophis asteroid is now less than three years away from making a close approach with Earth in 2029.
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At 1:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 23, NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer) spacecraft flew within 2,136 miles (3,438 kilometers) of Earth. Read more...
At 12:56 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 23, NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer) spacecraft will fly within about 2,100 miles (3,400 kilometers) of Earth. Passing about 100 times closer to Earth than the Moon’s orbit, the spacecraft will perform a gravity assist maneuver to alter the spacecraft’s direction and speed. In comparison, satellites in low Earth orbit are typically at altitudes up to about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) above the surface. Read more...