Although the project is still awaiting permission from Chinese officials in addition to the fact that it will necessitate coordination of multiple departments, China is set to build a space defense system.
China is attempting to develop a system that is capable of properly tracking asteroids and possibly modifying their trajectory in order to safeguard Earth from a potential impact.
Wu Yanhua, the deputy chairman of China’s National Space Administration (CNSA), stated on Sunday that Beijing aims to smash an asteroid as part of a research in 2025.
Wu told China Central Television during this year’s Space Day of China event that a near-Earth asteroid surveillance and defense network would be established, with the capacity to safeguard spacecraft as well.
The system, that would comprise both ground-based and space-based components, would collect and study asteroids to identify which ones constitute a possible hazard to Earth or humanity’s space operations. He explained that the system will include a computer simulation system that would simulate prospective asteroid strikes.
According to the Global Times, the project is still awaiting permission from Chinese officials, and it will necessitate “coordination of multiple departments.”
China wasn’t the only country worried about the hazard that asteroids may bring to Earth. NASA is also working on a similar concept. In November 2021, the US Space Agency launched a spacecraft meant to crash a small asteroid to see if it is feasible to change its course via contact and if this might be an efficient planetary defense against that kind of peril.
The DART probe, which is mounted on one of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, is designed to strike a tiny space rock circling a bigger asteroid, altering the speed of the moonlet by a tiny percentage – but sufficient to be spotted and recorded from Earth. The probe is projected to arrive at its destination around ten months after launch.
According to NASA, no confirmed asteroid capable of causing major harm is on a crash track with Earth in the next 100 years. However, the organization warned that 60% of these kind of space rock may still be undiscovered.
In 2013, a meteor erupted over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. Despite the fact that the item burnt in the atmosphere and only minor parts of it reached Earth, the incident wounded over 1,600 individuals and sent many to the hospital.
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