Ramses takes power in Milan ahead of a 2028 launch toward Apophis
ESA and JAXA have now energised Ramses, their planetary-defence craft, as one vehicle inside the Milan clean room run by OHB Italia. Apophis, the mission's target, passes Earth on 13 April 2029. The aimed departure is spring 2028. ESA describes the day as an assembly-schedule step, with no flight behind it.
Science··Evening
Power, for the first time, on the whole craft
OHB Italia's clean room in Milan is where Ramses first drew power as one complete vehicle. ESA and JAXA are the agencies building this planetary-defence craft. The core computer and the subsystems shared a feed while already sitting in the body, a step the project had not taken earlier. Parts on a bench are a different moment. What took the energy was the assembled body. ESA frames the day as ground work in that clean room, and the craft is still in Milan.[1]
The asteroid and the launch window
Apophis passes Earth on 13 April 2029, and Ramses is built for that pass. Launch is aimed at spring 2028. Those two dates are why the Milan power-on sits on the schedule now: the craft is meant to leave in spring 2028 so it can meet the 13 April 2029 pass. ESA does not describe a launch that has happened, and it does not describe a trajectory already flown. The dates are the plan the assembly step is meant to serve. Apophis remains the object the mission is built to meet.[1]
A step on the ground
ESA is explicit that the Milan day is a ground step on the assembly schedule. It is not a result from flight. Nothing in the account says Ramses has left Milan, reached orbit, or seen Apophis. The news is narrower: inside the OHB Italia clean room, the core computer and the subsystems shared power while mounted in the body. For a planetary-defence craft aimed at a 2028 departure and a 13 April 2029 encounter, that shared power is the gate the schedule had to clear on the ground. Readers who treat the Milan day as a launch will be ahead of what ESA reported.[1]
