Fleet Space Targets Apophis For Off-World Exploration Mission

Fleet Space Technologies, Australia’s leading space exploration company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ExLabs to deploy its off-world exploration technologies to survey the asteroid Apophis as part of ExLabs’ ApophisExL mission planned for launch in 2028. This partnership represents a bold step toward advancing the science of off-world exploration and planetary defence while building essential capabilities for the development of a sustainable space resources economy.

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Apophis: A Rare Visitor

Apophis, a near-Earth asteroid with an average diameter of 340 meters, is among the most closely studied objects of its kind. When Apophis was discovered in 2004, initial observations gave it a 2.7% chance of impacting Earth, elevating the asteroid to the highest rating on the Torino scale for potential hazards. On April 13, 2029, it will pass approximately 32,000 kilometers from Earth’s surface - closer than geosynchronous satellites. Such close flybys of large asteroids are extremely rare, occurring only once every 7,500 years.

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In addition to its near-Earth trajectory, research suggests that Apophis likely contains valuable metals and minerals that could one day be harnessed to support human infrastructure in space and critical industries on Earth. Its proximity offers a unique opportunity to advance planetary defense strategies, while deepening scientific understanding of asteroid composition, behavior, and resource potential.

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“Asteroids are trillion-dollar floating orebodies that hold the resources humanity will need to build a permanent presence off-world. They are also planet-killers that need to be studied for proactive planetary defence,” said Matt Pearson, Chief Exploration Officer and Co-Founder of Fleet Space. “By scaling ExoSphere on Earth with the world’s largest mining companies, and deploying SPIDER on Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 2, Fleet Space is proving how agile geoscience transforms data-driven resource development on Earth and beyond. This mission to Apophis is a foundational step for humanity to develop data-driven prospecting capabilities that support future missions to the Moon and Mars.”

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Why Surveying Apophis Matters

Surveying Apophis represents Earth’s best near-term opportunity to shape the long-term science, economics, and mission strategies required for planetary defence and off-world resource optimisation. Research has already revealed that some metal-rich near-Earth asteroids contain more iron, nickel, and cobalt than Earth’s known reserves. Two such asteroids, 1986 DA and 2016 ED85, are estimated to be 85% metal, underscoring the extraordinary potential value of these celestial bodies (Planetary Science Journal).

As part of the ApophisExL mission, Fleet Space will contribute off-world geophysical sensing technologies to ExLabs’ mothership spacecraft, enabling targeted data collection and characterization of Apophis - a critical step for the future of data-driven asteroid exploration. By unlocking insights about Apophis’s characterisation - the mission will create new opportunities for data sharing and commercialisation, creating a framework for identifying and prioritizing asteroids for resource prospecting while delivering vital intelligence for planetary defence strategies.

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Building Capabilities for the Moon, Mars, and Beyond

For Fleet Space, Apophis and other near-Earth asteroids represent a critical proving ground to advance the off-world variants of its terrestrial exploration system, ExoSphere, which is used by the world’s largest mining companies to image orebodies in real-time and develop mineral resources faster with less environmental impact. On Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 2, SPIDER - Fleet Space’s lunar exploration system - will be deployed on the Moon to unlock insights about the geological properties of the lunar subsurface.

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“Unlocking the potential of asteroids as resource-rich bodies depends on advancing the science of how we study and understand them. We need precise geophysical and mineralogical data to characterize their composition, structure, and behavior in order to determine how these materials can be accessed and utilized,” said Fleet Space’s Chief Science Officer, Gerrit Olivier. “By advancing off-world sensing capabilities that deliver this insight, we are creating the scientific foundation for a future with proactive planetary defence, resource abundance to realise the energy transition, and sustainable expansion of humanity into the solar system.”
Lessons learned from the lunar and Apophis surveys will further Fleet Space’s development of technologies needed for governments, space institutions, and resource industry leaders to harness off-world resources for the energy transition, build future industries on Earth, and develop resilient infrastructure for human life on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

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Global Collaboration: Foundations For A Sustainable Space Economy
Alongside global leaders such as Stanford Mineral-X, the MIT Space Exploration Initiative, and NASA, Fleet Space is advancing the science and technologies needed for off-world exploration - ranging from real-time subsurface sensing and drill targeting, to 3D imaging of lava tubes, and geophysics deployable with TRIDENT-like drills in lunar and Martian environments. 

These collaborations, combined with Fleet’s recent US$150M Series D funding and the unveiling of its advanced manufacturing facility capable of producing thousands of geophysical sensors and hundreds of satellites annually, reflect Fleet Space’s commitment to scaling the systems required for a new era of space exploration.

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The Future of Exploration

23 million years ago, an asteroid or comet collided with Earth on Devon Island in the Arctic Circle, leaving a crater measuring about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) in diameter and 1.7 kilometers (1 mile) deep. Advancing humanity’s scientific understanding of geological sites like the Haughton Impact Crater with NASA is vital for future missions to the Moon and Mars - testing critical technologies and learning the subsurface signatures needed to make data-driven decisions in analogue environments.

Studying Apophis is more than a single mission milestone - it is an opportunity to strengthen planetary defense, develop a sustainable space economy, and ensure humanity is prepared to step safely, boldly, and effectively into the final frontier. With ExLabs, Fleet Space is pushing the boundaries of science and exploration to make a permanent human presence on new worlds a reality.

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