On May 7, 2026, JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa and ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher signed a planetary-defence Memorandum of Cooperation in Berlin, alongside a RAMSES mission cooperation agreement. ESA plans to launch RAMSES in 2028 to investigate near-Earth asteroid Apophis during its exceptionally close Earth approach in 2029. OHB Italia is the mission’s prime contractor, with cooperation from the Italian Space Agency (ASI).
RAMSES will provide detailed scientific and technical data on a near-Earth object during a rare close approach, strengthening models of asteroid structure, surface behaviour, and hazard response. JAXA will supply lightweight Solar Array Wings and the Thermal Infrared Imager, while also launching the spacecraft on Japan’s H3 vehicle. These capabilities are directly relevant to protecting lunar habitats, communications, power systems, and stored biological and industrial assets from impact-generated disruption or debris hazards.
The Ark team should track RAMSES mission design, instrument performance, encounter data, and post-2029 planetary-defence analyses. Integrate validated asteroid-characterisation methods into the Ark’s hazard catalogue, require impact-response scenarios in lunar infrastructure planning, and assess whether future Ark assets need independent detection, tracking, shielding, or evacuation protocols.