NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX mission, which will fly alongside the near-Earth asteroid Apophis in 2029, received a $20 million funding allocation to continue operations for the next fiscal year.

The spacecraft, repurposed from the OSIRIS-REx mission that sampled asteroid Bennu, will study Apophis’ close flyby of Earth to understand how such encounters affect small bodies.

The funding secures 2026–27 operations but doesn’t guarantee future support, as Congress reviews NASA’s budget annually, Live Science has reported.

While OSIRIS-APEX moves forward, the fate of 18 other missions remains uncertain due to the ongoing government shutdown.