ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA is hosting a workshop later this month to learn about options for low-cost missions to an asteroid that will make a close approach to the Earth in 2029, a move that has confused some scientists who believe a shelved smallsat mission can meet NASA’s needs.
The Apophis 2029 Innovation Listening Workshop, to be held Feb. 7 at NASA Headquarters, will study what the agency calls “innovative approaches for a low-cost mission” to Apophis, a near Earth asteroid. Apophis will make a close flyby of the Earth in April 2029, passing closer to the Earth than the geostationary belt but posing no impact risk.
The workshop will feature a public briefing followed by one-on-one discussions with interested organizations. NASA added that there are no solicitations or even a formal request for information associated with the workshop.
The workshop is not being led by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, which hosts its planetary science activities as well as the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, but instead by NASA’s chief technologist within the Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy.
Lindley Johnson, NASA’s planetary defense officer, said at a Jan. 30 meeting of the Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG) that his office was supporting the workshop. “Their objective is to engage the public and private sectors in innovative, low-cost missions during the Earth flyby of Apophis,” he said. The focus of the workshop will be the one-on-one meetings, he said, for “small companies, nontraditional partners with NASA to present their ideas about how this could be done in a low-cost approach.”
NASA already has one mission to study Apophis. After the OSIRIS-REx mission delivered asteroid samples to Earth in September, the main spacecraft flew by Earth on an extended mission rechristened OSIRIS-APEX. It will rendezvous with Apophis immediately after the April 2029 flyby, studying it for the next 18 months. However, there is…
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