Hulk punch
China plans to launch a spacecraft with the aim of striking a nearby asteroid. With this impact, China wants to test whether the country can provide protection against asteroids that pose a threat to Earth, such as the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs about 66 million years ago.
Researchers outlined their plans in a recent paper published in the Journal of Deep Space Exploration and noted by The Planetary Society, He said a test mission should take place before 2030 and that an asteroid about 30 meters in diameter would be the target.
Previously, the researchers had proposed a different asteroid, called 2019 VL5, as a target for this test mission, but the paper appears to point to a new target with an equally cumbersome name: 2015 XF261.
According to the team, the proposed spacecraft will consist of two parts: an “observer and an impactor,” which together “are planned to be launched as a combination of two devices.”
The observer probe will first arrive at the asteroid and maneuver around it while analyzing it for three to six months. Then an impactor probe will arrive and strike the space rock while the observer probe studies the impact.
Deep consequences
NASA has conducted its own tests of a planetary defense system, culminating in the 2022 impact of the 170-meter-wide asteroid Dimorphos with NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), billed at the time as “the world’s first demonstration of planetary defense technology.”
After DART hit the asteroid, NASA scientists concluded that the impact had changed the orbit and shape of the satellite. This proves that it is possible to change the orbit of an asteroid.
To further protect Earth, NASA has developed the NEO Surveyor (NEO stands for Near-Earth Object). This space telescope will be launched in June 2028 and is intended to detect objects in space that could pose a threat to Earth.
There are currently no known asteroids that could threaten Earth, but scientists are still trying to figure out the best course of action if an asteroid does appear.
With China working on the same task despite tensions with America, it is reassuring to know that NASA is not the only space agency concerned about the safety of our home planet.
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