Exploration
Toutatis has been observed with radar imaging from the Arecibo Observatory and the Goldstone Solar System Radar during the asteroid's prior Earth flybys in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008. It will also be observed with radar during the December 2012 flyby and potentially during the more distant flyby in 2016. After 2016, Toutatis will not pass close to Earth again until 2069. The resolution of the radar images is as fine as 7.5 m, providing a very detailed model of Toutatis' shape and spin state.
The Chinese lunar probe Chang'e 2 departed from the Sun–Earth L2 point on April 15, 2012 and is en-route to the asteroid. The spacecraft is expected to make a flyby of Toutatis on December 13, 2012, at a distance of a few hundred kilometers and at a relative velocity of 10.7 km/s, when Toutatis is near closest approach to the Earth.
Read more about this topic: 4179 Toutatis
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