COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 9, 2026) — ExLabs, a commercial deep-space exploration company, will highlight the growing role of private companies in planetary defense ahead of asteroid Apophis’ historic 2029 flyby of Earth, while showcasing its own Apophis EX mission at the upcoming Space Symposium.
On April 13, 2029, Apophis will pass approximately 20,000 miles from Earth, closer than many geostationary satellites. The asteroid, which is nearly 1,000 feet wide, will be visible to billions of people around the world and will provide scientists with a rare opportunity to study how a potentially hazardous asteroid responds to Earth’s gravitational forces.
International missions are already being planned. NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX mission is expected to observe Apophis after the flyby, while the European Space Agency’s RAMSES mission aims to rendezvous with the asteroid before its close approach. ExLabs believes commercial missions can significantly expand the amount of data collected and the number of organizations able to participate.
“Planetary defense must become repeatable,” said Matthew Schmidgall, CEO and co-founder of ExLabs. “We need systems that make it easier and more affordable to operate beyond Earth orbit. Apophis gives us an opportunity to show that commercial companies can complement government missions and help build a lasting planetary defense capability.”
ExLabs will discuss these issues during the “State of Planetary Defense” panel at Space Symposium in Colorado Springs on Thursday, April 16 at 12:15 p.m. The session will bring together leaders from NASA, ESA, JAXA, UNOOSA, the commercial space industry, and the scientific community.
The ExLabs Apophis mission, called Apophis EX, is a planned 2028 commercial deep-space mission to study the asteroid Apophis before, during, and after its close Earth flyby in April 2029. Using ExLabs’ SERV spacecraft, the mission will perform close-range navigation while hosting and deploying payloads from universities, agencies, and commercial partners that will collect a wide range of data on the asteroid. Its goals are to gather critical data for planetary defense, test repeatable commercial approaches to deep-space operations, and complement government missions like NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX and ESA’s RAMSES, all while making deep-space research more accessible and cost-effective.
“The future of planetary defense depends on collaboration,” Schmidgall said. “No government, company, or institution can solve this challenge alone. The next phase will require a true partnership between public agencies and commercial innovators.”
“Planetary defense is no longer the sole domain of national space agencies. It is becoming an ecosystem – public institutions, private companies, international partnerships, and new entrants who have never before participated in deep space missions. I am excited about this shift and about what a company like ExLabs is bringing to the table for planetary defense,” said Jim Bridenstine, Former NASA Administrator.
The Apophis flyby represents one of the most important planetary defense milestones in decades. ExLabs believes it can also become the moment that transforms deep-space missions from rare government efforts into a more open and sustainable commercial ecosystem.
About ExLabs
ExLabs is a commercial deep-space mission operator developing modular, autonomous infrastructure for geostationary orbit and beyond. Through its SERV spacecraft platform and Mission-as-a-Service model, ExLabs enables affordable access to deep space for scientific, defense, academic, and commercial partners, supporting planetary defense, space resource exploration, and future off-world economies. The company is headquartered in Long Beach, CA. https://www.exlabs.space/