China plans to hit an asteroid with a Mach 26 projectile in planet defence test
China is planning a planetary defense mission to strike a near-Earth asteroid with a high-speed projectile by 2030. The mission aims to test the ability to alter an asteroid's orbit or break its structure, surpassing the capabilities of NASA's previous DART mission.
Why it matters
This mission represents a significant escalation in global space defense capabilities and international competition in deep space exploration.
China’s first planetary defence mission appears to be far more ambitious than Nasa’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart), according to a new paper outlining its plan to slam a spacecraft into an asteroid before 2030.
Unlike Dart, a proof-of-concept that nudged one asteroid’s orbit around another, China is aiming for a more realistic planetary-defence test.
It aims to directly alter an asteroid’s orbit relative to Earth, “or even break up its structure”, according to a team led by Li Mingtao, chief scientist for planetary defence at the China National Space Administration.
The spacecraft was expected to hit its target at more than 9km (5.6 miles) per second – compared with Dart’s 6.1km/s – during a close approach to within about 7 million km of Earth in 2029 or 2030, the paper said.
The paper is under peer review by the Chinese-language Journal of Deep Space Exploration.
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