The original RAMSES mission objective was targeting an arrival at Apophis before the close encounter in April 2029. The consortium proposing RAMSES II concept did baseline the spacecraft architecture on Electric Propulsion, so to provide a different alternative with respect to Hera re-use and decrease the mass at launch (and thus cost). The disadvantage in having electric propulsion is the longer cruise phase required to reach the asteroid, translating into a launch date in 2027. Given the challenging programmatic framework (supply chain securing in the middle of two funding rounds), the risk profile (cost and development) of the mission was considered too high for implementation to Apophis. However, the proposed concept is considered promising, also given the absence of an European Deep Space Small satellite based on Electric Propulsion, and for this reason – in agreement with ESA needs - the RAMSES study objective has been changed and has been exploited and adapted for other workplans beyond Apophis opportunity. Since one of the next priorities in ESA’s Space Safety Programme related to Planetary Defense is the implementation of class of fast rendezvous satellites to characterize potentially dangerous asteroids, the starting point of the new study has been the list of known NEAs with high interest for Planetary Defense and reasonable rendezvous possibility in the next 8 years. To avoid confusion a mission rebranding was done, naming “Zodiac Pioneer” the original concept directed to other targets (different from Apophis).