NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

The spacecraft bids farewell to Earth and embarks on an extended mission with a new name: OSIRIS-APEX.

The OSIRIS-REx mission delivered a sample it gathered from the asteroid Bennu to Earth in late September — but that’s not the end of the spacecraft.

Apophis was first noted in 2004, and worried astronomers that the 350-meter asteroid could impact Earth.

While they now believe that is unlikely, it will get within 20,000 miles of our planet, closer than some satellites. 

University of Arizona professor Michael Nolan is the mission’s deputy principal investigator. 

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

OSIRIS-APEX uses its thrusters to disturb the surface of Apophis, in order to study its properties.

“We have the world's best spectrometers ever put on a spacecraft for doing this kind of work, for studying asteroids in particular. So we are going to measure the chemistry in detail all over the surface and how it may vary across the surface," Nolan said.

He says the craft will use different cameras to observe Apophis before using thrusters to excavate its surface. 

"The spacecraft is designed to get up close and personal to an asteroid. So we found a target that we could go and meet up with and orbit around for an extended period of time," Nolan said. 

The mission will also study its trajectory for better understanding of asteroid defenses. It is set to begin observation in 2029.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

During perihelion, OSIRIS-APEX goes into “Fig Leaf” configuration to shield itself from the Sun.