China advances mission to prevent asteroid hitting Earth
Date 25 Apr 2022 time 11:20
China to build an asteroid defense system Aims for testing as early as 2025
Global Times reported that Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the National Space Administration of China. It was revealed on April 24, on the occasion of China’s Space Day, that it was planning to build a system to track and change the asteroid’s orbit. to prevent the stars from hitting the earth The experiment is expected to be carried out as early as 2025.
“The system will have both terrestrial and space components,” Wu said. which will list and analyze asteroids to determine what might be a threat to the world or humanity Moreover, the system will simulate the possible asteroid impacts.”
Among experts, the system could be an important addition to the threat of an asteroid hitting Earth.
The Global Times said the project was still awaiting approval from Chinese authorities. and requires coordination from many parties
Russia’s RT website reports that China isn’t the only country concerned about the potential asteroid threat to Earth, with NASA developing a similar program in November. 2021, in partnership with SpaceX, launches the first NASA spacecraft DART to test asteroid defense technology.
Although in Oct. NASA has previously said that no asteroid could cause catastrophic damage from a collision with Earth in the next 100 years, however, NASA added that 60% of space rock may not actually be discovered.
The Global Times reports that the most recent asteroid strike occurred in 2013 in Chelyabinsk. (Chelyabinsk) of Russia, although the object did not crash into the earth. but burned in the atmosphere, and only a small fraction of it fell on Earth. But the incident left more than 1,600 people injured and dozens hospitalized.
Silva/Spaceengine/Handout via REUTERS
