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China Proposes Asteroid Impact Test Before 2030, Paper Under Review
China intends to launch its first planetary defense mission by impacting a spacecraft into an asteroid before 2030. The plan calls for a collision speed exceeding 9 km per second during a close approach in 2029 or 2030. South China Morning Post reported the details from a new paper.
Jul 19, 8:00 AM·1m read1 source
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China plans to slam a spacecraft into an asteroid before 2030 as part of its first planetary defense mission, South China Morning Post reported. The mission outlined in a paper led by Li Mingtao aims to directly alter an asteroid’s orbit relative to Earth or break up its structure.
The spacecraft is expected to hit its target at more than 9 km per second during a close approach to within about 7 million km of Earth in 2029 or 2030.
That speed is equivalent to over 26 times the speed of sound near sea level. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test struck at 6.1 km/s as a proof-of-concept that nudged one asteroid’s orbit around another. China’s test seeks a more direct demonstration of planetary defense.
The paper remains under peer review by the Chinese-language Journal of Deep Space Exploration.
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