Don't be alarmed, but a skyscraper-sized asteroid is about to pass extremely close to the Earth. Apophis, named after the ancient Egyptian deity of chaos and darkness and a healthy 1,480 by 560 feet in size, will soon come within about 1/10 of the distance to the Moon — giving Aerospace and University of Maryland researchers a chance to observe it up close.

The close flyby actually isn't until April of 2029, but these events are extremely rare and observers of stellar objects always make the most of them — especially those concerned with what we'd do if Apophis was actually on a collision course.

"We are going to use our experience from this encounter in case we need to go and characterize a rapidly approaching asteroid that we need to do something about on short notice," said Aerospace's Nahum Melamed, who has worked with NASA and JPL to create the NEO Deflection App, which explores potential impact scenarios.

UMD researchers are working on a CubeSat-scale observation mission they call Terrapin Engineered Rideshare Probe for Rapid-response Asteroid Apophis Profiling, Tracking, Observing and Reconnaissance — but you can call TERP RAPTOR. The team recently visited Aerospace's Concurrent Design Center Laboratory to work with experts there.

Observing Apophis up close, and how it responds to Earth's gravitational pull, will be a rare opportunity to advance the science of planetary defense. You can read more about the mission and Aerospace's role in it here.