This news

A major milestone has been reached in the development of the ESA-JAXA RAMSES planetary defence mission: the spacecraft has been switched on for the first time.

On September 23rd 2026, RAMSES was powered on with its onboard computer and integrated subsystems. This marks the beginning of integrated functional testing, allowing the mission team to verify how the spacecraft’s different systems work together as a whole.

The achievement is particularly significant given RAMSES’s demanding schedule. The spacecraft is set for launch in spring 2028 to rendezvous with asteroid Apophis ahead of its close approach to Earth on 13 April 2029. During this flyby, the approximately 375-metre-wide asteroid will pass less than 32.000 km from Earth’s surface, providing a unique opportunity to observe how a near-Earth object reacts to our planet’s gravity. Built and led by OHB-Italia, RAMSES will observe the asteroid before, during and after the encounter.

SPACEBEL software will be on board of the RAMSES spacecraft. We supply the Central Software (CSW) for RAMSES, drawing on our growing heritage in deep-space missions - in particular technology and expertise developed for ESA’s Hera and Comet Interceptor missions, while considering RAMSES specific requirements and challenges. Running on the onboard computer, our flight software will manage the entire spacecraft, its platform equipment and its payload instruments throughout the mission’s journey.

In addition to that essential component, we deliver the Software Validation Facility (SVF), providing a dedicated environment in which the flight software can be tested and validated against models of the spacecraft’s onboard computer, systems and payloads.

We look forward to seeing this mission progress towards its rendezvous with Apophis in 2029!