An asteroid the size of a ship is heading for a near miss with earth and we’re sending a spacecraft to meet it

Published on Oct 15, 2025 at 10:29 PM (UTC+4)
by Grace Donohoe

Last updated on Oct 15, 2025 at 1:30 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Emma Matthews

The European Space Agency has released exciting details about a huge asteroid that is heading towards us in a matter of years.

In a new, exciting announcement video, the ESA explained that on Friday, 13 April 2029, a whopping 375m-wide asteroid is set to bypass Earth, less than 32,000km away.

The asteroid is named Apophis, and with the event only happening once every 7,000 years, the ESA is sending a spacecraft to ‘rendezvous’ with it, before two smaller spacecraft to get up and close and personal to study it.

The proposed Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety, AKA Ramses, will launch a whole year before the asteroid appears, and it could discover how the Solar System came to be. Check out the video above!

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Grace started her career writing about the weird and wonderful for the international press. She's covered everything from lifestyle to sports and hard news and now finds herself pursuing her main interest - cars. She's loved cars from a young age and has a keen interest in luxury travel too.