MOSCOW, Russia, Oct. 12, 2026 - Lomonosov Moscow State University has started work on a Russian mission to the asteroid Apophis, with researchers at its Institute of Nuclear Physics working out the technical parameters of the spacecraft and its flight.^[1] Vladislav Osedlo, deputy director for research at the university's Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, told TASS on 12 October that the mission could shed new light on the asteroid.^[2] Osedlo said the craft may carry a gamma-ray spectrometer, and that its technical parameters are still being worked out.^[3] Details of the mission remain under development.^[4] Apophis will pass 32,000 kilometres from Earth's surface on 13 April 2029, creating unique conditions for researchers to study it without posing a threat.^[5] NASA and ESA both describe the flyby as a safe close pass.^[6][7] Impact Insight. A gamma-ray spectrometer can read a surface's chemistry from a distance, because each element gives off gamma rays at its own characteristic energies. Knowing what a hazardous-sized asteroid is made of, and how solid it is, is central to planetary defense, since it shapes how such an object would respond to a deflection attempt, and close passes like this one are rare chances to measure it.