---
title: UMD Team Advances Mission Concept for 2029 Asteroid Flyby
date: 2025-08-22T16:00:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/umd-team-advances-mission-concept-for-2029-asteroid-flyby"
section: Articles
---
# UMD Team Advances Mission Concept for 2029 Asteroid Flyby

*August 22, 2025* — by [Jennifer Figgins Rooks](/author/jennifer-rooks)


> Grad Students’ Initiative Aims to Collect Data During Historic Near-Miss of Earth

[Animation of Asteroid Apophis’ 2029 Close Approach with Earth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjJIyZKbHqc)



When the asteroid [Apophis](https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/asteroids/apophis-facts/) misses Earth by a whisker in April 2029, aerospace engineering students at the University of Maryland plan to be right on target.

A UMD team of graduate students is refining a mission concept that could put a university-built spacecraft in position to capture close-range images and data from the asteroid to offer valuable information on its structure and behavior.

The launch of TERP RAPTOR (Terrapin Engineered Rideshare Probe for Rapid-response Asteroid Apophis Profiling, Tracking, Observing, and Reconnaissance), would deepen understanding of how the solar system and planets formed while providing insight about defending Earth from other threatening asteroids.

The proposed mission originated as a student project in a graduate course taught by lecturer Brent Barbee, the lead planetary defense applications scientist and community liaison at nearby NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

UMD’s proposed mission would launch a breadbox-size satellite into Earth orbit as a ride-along with other spacecraft, then conduct a high-speed flyby of Apophis on April 13, 2029, as it passes within roughly 32,000 kilometers (20,000 miles) of Earth, a distance closer than many geosynchronous satellites. This proximity to Earth offers a rare opportunity for detailed observations of how Earth’s gravity field affects an asteroid’s composition, rotation, and structural response; it will also be visible to the naked eye in the night sky from Europe, Africa, and parts of West Asia.

Scientists have been monitoring Apophis, which measures an estimated 340 meters in diameter, since its discovery in 2004. Current trajectory data shows no Earth impact risk on subsequent fly-bys for at least a century.

Proposed federal budget cuts could eliminate a major mission to rendezvous with Apophis—NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, renamed OSIRIS-APEX. But, OSIRIS-APEX cannot get up close to Apophis until June 2029, long after Apophis’s visit to our home planet. So, even if OSIRIS-APEX’s budget is restored, university-led initiatives like UMD’s TERP RAPTOR are among the few viable opportunities to collect close-up data during Apophis’s visit to Earth.

“Apophis represents both a scientific gift and a planetary warning,” said Barbee. “It reinforces our guiding impulse to aim for the stars, while organizing our thinking and efforts like nothing else can. And while it offers an incredibly rare chance to deepen our understanding of near-Earth asteroids, it also reminds us that these asteroids carry incredible potential for destructive force if they should ever impact Earth.”


*four team members pose with certificates — Team members presented their mission proposal at the International Academy of Astronautics Planetary Defense Conference in South Africa earlier this year. From left: Brent Barbee, Adrienne Rudolph, Chinthan Prasad and Sean Philips.*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Aerospace Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/aerospace-engineering), [Academic Competitions](https://today.umd.edu/topic/academic-competitions), [Student Experience](https://today.umd.edu/topic/student-experience)


**Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering)