An H3 rocket moves to the launch site for a combustion test at the Tanegashima Space Center in Minamitane Town, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, July 23, 2025. /VCG
Japan will join a European observation mission during the Earth's close call with an asteroid by providing the H3 rocket as a launch vehicle "on behalf of humanity," a Japanese space agency official said on Friday.
Asteroid Apophis will make a close flyby of Earth in 2029, passing about 32,000 kilometers from our planet's surface, a distance closer than many satellites in geostationary orbit.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will join the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Ramses mission to observe Apophis, JAXA Vice President Masaki Fujimoto said.
"Under the circumstances, JAXA must increasingly support Ramses to study Apophis through Japan-Europe collaboration, on behalf of humanity worldwide," Fujimoto told a space policy panel of Japan's science ministry.
The mission requires final ESA approval in November, but JAXA is considering a ride-share launch of its own deep space explorer DESTINY+ with Ramses in 2028 and would also offer infrared sensor and solar array paddle components for Ramses, he said.
Studying events like Apophis' close pass by Earth is crucial for planetary defense activities against asteroid collision risks in the future, scientists have said.
Space policies
NASA, the U.S. space agency, had planned a separate OSIRIS-APEX mission to rendezvous with Apophis in 2029, but the fate of the mission is uncertain because of potential U.S. budget cuts.
Europe and Japan are deepening space collaboration amid shifting U.S. space policies, as cooperation between China and Russia on space projects also intensifies. ESA and JAXA said in May they remain committed to the NASA-led Artemis program after the U.S. administration proposed major changes to the moon missions.
The EU and Japan confirmed cooperation in building satellite constellations, including Europe's satellite communication infrastructure IRIS², at their leaders' summit in Tokyo last month.
Eutelsat, the French rival to Elon Musk's Starlink commercial satellite internet system, in September signed a multi-launch contract with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which has carried out H3 rocket launches since its first successful flight last year.
Japan also plans a joint lunar rover mission called LUPEX with India.