雅思阅读 089: The 2029 Apophis Flyby — A Global Space Fleet Gathers

Adapted from "Spacecraft will swarm asteroid Apophis during fateful 2029 Earth flyby" by Andrew Jones, Scientific American, 30 July 2026.

Reading Passage

Discovered in 2004, the near-Earth asteroid Apophis briefly terrified astronomers: early calculations gave it a one-in-37 chance of hitting our planet in 2029. Further observations dropped that risk to zero. But the asteroid's close approach in April 2029 will still offer a once-in-a-millennium opportunity to study a near-Earth object at close range. Apophis will pass within 32,000 kilometres of Earth — closer than geostationary satellites.

Back in 2020, no space agency had concrete plans to observe the flyby. By 2026, three major missions and at least one student-led CubeSat are preparing to visit.

Japan's DESTINY+ spacecraft, originally scheduled to launch in 2025, was delayed and will now ride the powerful H3 rocket in 2028. It will fly past Apophis at about 1.5 kilometres per second weeks before the closest approach, mapping the asteroid for later arrivals.

The European Space Agency's Ramses mission will share the same H3 launch. Ramses is nearly a copy of ESA's successful Hera asteroid probe. It carries narrow- and wide-angle cameras, a high-resolution imager, a thermal infrared camera and a laser altimeter, and will approach as close as one kilometre. Ramses also carries two shoebox-sized CubeSats: Don Quijote, which will land on Apophis with a seismometer to measure Earth's gravitational tug; and Farinella, which will use radar to probe the asteroid's interior.

A small student-built CubeSat from Tsinghua University in China, named START, will also attempt a flyby, passing within about seven kilometres at 8.7 kilometres per second. It will ride a Chinese commercial rocket in early 2028.

After Apophis swings past Earth, NASA's OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft — the extended mission of the probe that returned samples from asteroid Bennu — will arrive on 5 June 2029. It will spend 18 months studying the asteroid, including firing thrusters to stir up surface material and test its strength.

Astronomers on the ground will also observe, using radar telescopes in California. And most people on Earth will be able to see the asteroid as a fast-moving point of light crossing the night sky over western Asia, Africa and Europe.

Scientists caution that Apophis is essentially a rubble pile, and no one knows whether its interior is loose rock held together by gravity or contains a solid core. The flyby will answer that question — and also prepare humanity for a real asteroid threat.

"The only impacts," MIT's Richard Binzel says, "will be on science and planetary defence."

Questions 1–5

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

1. What is the approximate diameter of Apophis?

   • A. 34 metres
   • B. 340 metres
   • C. 3.4 kilometres
   • D. 34 kilometres

2. How close will Apophis pass to Earth in 2029?

   • A. 3,200 kilometres
   • B. 32,000 kilometres
   • C. 320,000 kilometres
   • D. 3.2 million kilometres

3. Which rocket will carry both DESTINY+ and Ramses?

   • A. Falcon 9
   • B. Epsilon S
   • C. H3
   • D. Zhuque-3

4. What instrument will Don Quijote carry?

   • A. A laser altimeter
   • B. A seismometer
   • C. A radar
   • D. A thermal camera

5. When will OSIRIS-APEX arrive at Apophis?

   • A. April 2029
   • B. June 2029
   • C. April 2028
   • D. November 2026

Questions 6–10

Do the following statements agree with the information?

Write:

• TRUE
• FALSE
• NOT GIVEN

6. Apophis was originally thought to have a significant chance of hitting Earth in 2029.
7. DESTINY+ will visit Apophis after Ramses.
8. The Chinese START mission is led by university students.
9. Apophis is known to have a solid iron core.
10. OSIRIS-APEX previously collected samples from asteroid Bennu.

Questions 11–13

Complete the summary. Choose ONE WORD ONLY.

Apophis is described as a 11 pile. Its interior could be loose rock held together by 12 alone, or it might contain a large 13 mass.

Answers

1. B — "roughly 340-metre-diameter rock."
2. B — "within 32,000 kilometres of Earth."
3. C — "ride on the much larger H3 flagship rocket."
4. B — "Don Quijote packs a seismometer."
5. B — "will arrive on June 5, 2029."
6. TRUE — "one-in-37 chance of impacting Earth in 2029."
7. FALSE — DESTINY+ will visit weeks before Ramses' closest approach.
8. TRUE — "a small student-led mission from China's Tsinghua University."
9. FALSE — No one knows; it could be loose or solid.
10. TRUE — "the spacecraft that sampled the asteroid Bennu."
11. rubble
12. gravity
13. coherent

Key Vocabulary