BEIJING, China, Oct. 30, 2026 - 128 weeks (896 days) to go until asteroid 99942 Apophis passes Earth on 13 April 2029, about 32,000 kilometres away. This week's claim comes from China.

This week's claim: "a Chinese university probe will fly to the most dangerous asteroid." Tsinghua University is developing START, a student-built mission to observe Apophis during its 2029 close approach. It is planned to launch in early 2028 as a rideshare payload. The team says START has completed its system-level design and was in detailed design as of July 2026, with manufacturing planned to start in late 2026.

Where reports disagree: the team's own conference abstract describes a 200-kilogram smallsat with a budget of about $0.8 million, while one news report gives a mass of 20 kg and $2.8 million in government funding. We go with the team's figures. Verdict: a real mission in development, but "most dangerous asteroid" is wrong. Apophis was once given a 1-in-37 chance of hitting Earth in 2029, a risk later reduced to zero, and a collision in 2029 is ruled out.

Also this week: ESA's Ramses, a joint mission with JAXA, was switched on for the first time by its prime contractor, and its two modules will be joined next spring at ESA's ESTEC test centre in the Netherlands.

Impact Insight. The more spacecraft that watch the 2029 pass, from different distances and angles, the better scientists can measure how Earth's gravity tugs on an asteroid hundreds of metres across, changing its spin and possibly its surface. That is the kind of data planetary defense needs about how asteroids hold together before anyone could plan to deflect one.