The START mission: Probing the 2029 Apophis Flyby via a Low-Cost Geocentric SmallSat
The Student-led Threatening Asteroid Reconnaissance of Tsinghua (START) marks the inaugural mission of the Tianxing Program, a deep-space exploration initiative led by students at Tsinghua University. Conceived as a low-cost, rapid-response small-satellite mission, START will investigate the near-Earth asteroid (99942) Apophis during its close approach to Earth in April 2029, when significant terrestrial tidal forces will offer a rare opportunity to observe the physical and dynamical response of a rubble-pile asteroid in real time. The 300 kg spacecraft is scheduled for rideshare launch into low Earth orbit in early 2028 and will then use solar electric propulsion to transfer to a circular mission orbit with a semimajor axis of approximately 38,000 km and an inclination of 55 degrees. START will execute a high-speed flyby of Apophis from a closest distance of 7 km at the asteroid's closest approach to Earth, to capture its tidal response. The payload suite consists of a high-resolution narrow-field camera, a wide-field navigation camera, and three near-infrared multispectral imagers. By acquiring centimeter-scale imagery and meter-scale reflectance spectra, the mission will characterize the asteroid's surface morphology and composition and monitor immediate tidally induced surface modifications. Ultimately, START will provide geometrically complementary, high-cadence datasets to international flagship missions to Apophis, demonstrating a highly scalable and cost-effective architecture for future planetary defense and small-body exploration.