The European Space Agency (ESA) signed an €81.2 million contract with OHB Italia on February 10, 2026, to begin construction of the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses) spacecraft. The mission, slated for launch in mid-April to mid-May 2028, will rendezvous with the near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis before its close approach to Earth in February 2029.
This contract marks the start of the spacecraft’s construction, assembly, and testing phase, building upon preparatory work initiated with a previous contract signed in October 2024, bringing the total mission value to approximately €150 million. Ramses is a joint effort between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
“With Ramses, ESA is seizing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study asteroid Apophis as it swings past Earth, deepening our understanding of near-Earth objects and advancing our capabilities to protect our planet,” said Orson Sutherland, Mars & Beyond Projects Group Leader at ESA. Roberto Aceti, CEO of OHB Italia, stated, “We are proud to be entrusted by ESA with the Ramses mission,” adding that the contract “reflects the confidence placed in our team’s expertise.”
Initially identified as a potential impactor, astronomers have since determined that Apophis poses no risk of colliding with Earth for at least 100 years. Despite this revised assessment, the Ramses mission aims to provide unique insights into the physical properties and behavior of asteroids. The spacecraft will conduct measurements of Apophis before and during its Earth flyby to study its response to the planetary encounter.
Ramses will deploy two smaller CubeSats during the mission. One, named Farinella, was selected by ESA in March 2025. The second CubeSat, Don Quijote, built by the Spanish company Emxys, is intended to land on Apophis. GomSpace (Denmark) is providing system engineering support for the lander CubeSat project. The mission will leverage technology developed for ESA’s Hera mission, which was successfully launched in October 2024 to reach the Didymos asteroid system.
In 2024, India expressed interest in developing an instrument for Ramses, and Germany’s DLR proposed including a mini-rover, MASCOT3 (or BASTET), similar to the MASCOT rover previously flown on Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission.
