ESA signs Ramses spacecraft and cubesat deals for Apophis flyby

by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 16, 2026

On 10 February 2026 the European Space Agency signed a contract with OHB Italia to develop the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety, known as Ramses, securing the next phase of Europes dedicated mission to asteroid Apophis ahead of its close Earth flyby in 2029. Launching in 2028, Ramses will rendezvous with the near-Earth asteroid before its rare encounter with our planet, providing detailed measurements of its physical properties and the way it responds to Earths gravity.

The new contract, valued at 81.2 million euros, was signed at ESAs ESTEC technology centre in the Netherlands and initiates the construction, assembly and testing of the main Ramses spacecraft. It builds on an earlier agreement signed in October 2024 for preparatory work, bringing the total mission contract value with OHB Italia to around 150 million euros.

Ramses is designed to deepen understanding of near-Earth objects and strengthen planetary defence capabilities by closely tracking how Apophis behaves as it passes within roughly 32,000 kilometers of Earth, less than one tenth of the distance to the Moon. Scientists are particularly interested in how the roughly 375 meter wide asteroid's shape, spin and internal structure react to the gravitational forces during this unusually close but safe flyby.

ESA officials describe Ramses as a once in a lifetime opportunity to study Apophis under real dynamical stress. Orson Sutherland, Mars and Beyond Projects Group Leader at ESA, said the mission will help advance methods to protect Earth from hazardous objects while demonstrating European leadership in robotic deep-space exploration and international cooperation.

The mission draws heavily on experience from ESAs Hera mission, the agencys first dedicated planetary defence spacecraft now en route to the Didymos binary asteroid system. Like Hera, Ramses will carry two deployable CubeSats built by European industry, extending the scientific reach of the mission once it arrives at Apophis with close-up investigations from multiple vantage points.

One of these small spacecraft, named Farinella in honor of Italian planetary scientist Paolo Farinella, is being built by Tyvak International under a separate contract signed alongside the main Ramses agreement. The new Farinella contract, worth 8.2 million euros, follows an initial 4.7 million euro deal for preparatory work signed in 2025 and covers the construction and testing of the CubeSat.

Tyvak International CEO Fabio Nichele said the company aims to deliver a compact spacecraft capable of making a large contribution to Apophis science during the close Earth encounter. He emphasized that the project showcases the role of innovative small satellites in planetary science and demonstrates the strength of European industrial collaboration in space safety missions.

Ramses also incorporates significant contributions from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, reflecting the missions international character. JAXA is providing key hardware including the spacecrafts solar arrays and a thermal infrared imager, and there is the potential for a rideshare launch with JAXAs Destiny Plus mission. Japanese scientists will also participate in the missions scientific investigations at Apophis.

The mission recently passed its Critical Design Review, which was conducted over several months by an ESA expert board and completed on 6 February. The review confirmed that the detailed spacecraft design meets all technical, scientific and programmatic requirements and is ready to move into full-scale manufacturing.

According to Ramses mission manager Paolo Martino, clearing this critical hurdle in a short timeframe demonstrates that the spacecraft design is mature and robust despite the missions accelerated schedule. He noted that maintaining the rapid development pace is a sign of the teams engineering capability and commitment under demanding timing constraints.

With the contract in place and the design frozen, industrial teams will now start building, assembling and integrating the Ramses flight hardware, including the main spacecraft bus and scientific payload instruments. Over the coming year these components will undergo environmental and functional testing to ensure they can withstand launch and operations in deep space.

Ramses is scheduled to launch in Spring 2028, targeting a rendezvous with Apophis in time to observe the asteroid before, during and after its April 2029 Earth flyby. The mission supports the core objectives of ESAs Space Safety Programme by improving knowledge of how near-Earth objects react to external forces and by refining strategies for defending Earth from potentially hazardous asteroids in the future.