IAC 2024 - Ramses contract signature

On Thursday 17 October 2024, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and OHB Italia Managing Director Roberto Aceti signed a contract worth €63 million at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Milan that will begin preparatory work on ESA's proposed Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses). If Ramses receives full support from ESA's Member States next year, the spacecraft will launch in 2028 and rendezvous with the infamous asteroid Apophis in early 2029, in time to accompany and study it as it passes within 32 000 km of Earth's surface on 13 April 2029.