CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida- A NASA spacecraft, recently returned from a mission to asteroid Bennu, has been relaunched to study another asteroid as it approaches Earth’s orbit: Apophis, named after the Egyptian god of Chaos. The space rock is expected to pass within 32,000 kilometres of the Earth’s surface on April 13, 2029. On December 22, NASA announced it had relaunched its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to study a 370-metre-diameter asteroid approaching Earth’s orbit named Apophis. In Egyptian mythology, Apophis is a serpent-shaped god and an embodiment of darkness and disorder which seeks to eradicate the world. Thankfully, the asteroid bearing its name has no such intention. Like Earth, Apophis orbits the sun and now and again, it almost comes into contact with our planet. On April 13, 2029, the 40-50 million ton asteroid is expected to get within 32,000 kilometres of Earth, closer than some artificial satellites – something that has never occurred in recorded history. Weather permitting, five years from now, Apophis’s passage may be visible to the naked eye in Asia, the Indian Ocean, Australia, most of Africa and Europe, and part of the Pacific Ocean. After a sevenyear journey to the Bennu asteroid, the OSIRIS-REx returned to Earth in September. After the 4 billion kilometre journey, the spacecraft still had a quarter of its fuel left and was thus sent off to intercept Apophis. Several other destinations, including Venus, were considered though the voyage to Apophis won out. For its new mission, the spacecraft was renamed OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer).