Chinese Defense Minister Wu Yanhua said Sunday that China is preparing a new plan to save Earth from asteroids heading towards it threateningly.
At the moment, not all the details about this project are available, but what is clear is that China (National Space Administration) is working on a ground and space system that could observe asteroids and give early warning in case it judges that an asteroid could collide and threaten the Earth. In addition, Chinese experts plan to develop a method to prevent these possible impacts. The Minister of Defense specifically said that they would “conduct a collision themselves” to remove a threatening asteroid from its orbit so that it does not end up on Earth.
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Currently, the only project that aims to do something similar is the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), an initiative developed by NASA and Johns Hopkins University. The DART mission has launched a specially designed rocket to change the course of an asteroid. The goal is to hit the asteroid with enough speed to change its direction.
Danger… of astronomical proportions
Asteroid impacts on Earth are one of the worst possible natural disasters that could happen. The damage an asteroid impact could cause varies based on size and other factors. NASA considers asteroids 140 meters in diameter or larger to be a significant risk to our planet.
Something even bigger – over 300 meters across like the asteroid Apophis – could destroy an entire continent. One can only imagine what would happen with an even bigger asteroid.
However, even small asteroids have the potential to cause damage. And there are a lot of them out there. In fact, they are one of the most common celestial bodies in the solar system. Currently, there are over 1,113,000 known asteroids in the solar system, according to NASA. However, scientists are constantly discovering new ones.
Asteroids: Can the Earth be saved?
Many projects have been proposed to help humanity destroy a threatening asteroid. However, as we mentioned above, so far only the DART mission is preparing for such a thing.
The rocket will crash directly into an asteroid at a speed of about 6.6 kilometers per second, which will force it to change the speed of its orbit.
The mission launched last November and is expected to crash into its target, the asteroid Dimorphous, in the fall of 2022.
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Is the DART mission our only hope?
The DART mission has gained a lot of publicity because it is the only major project to have moved beyond the theoretical stage. However, other ideas have been proposed.
China has made suggestions about how Earth could be saved from threatening asteroids. A proposal made by researchers from the National Space Science Center in 2021 claimed that using 23 Long March 5 rockets, some of China's largest rockets, could potentially be effective in changing the orbit of an asteroid.
“By increasing the mass hitting the asteroid, simple physics should ensure a much greater effect,” said one professor, although, he added, the operation of such a mission needs to be studied in greater detail.
Other scientists from different parts of the world have made other suggestions about dealing with asteroids headed toward Earth.
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China's space ambitions
It seems China doesn't just want to deal with asteroids. But the announcement of a new plan to deal with them is in line with many of Beijing's space ambitions.
China aspires to become a space power by 2030 and has already successfully launched probes to explore Mars, while becoming the first country to land a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon.
Currently, China is also creating its own space station in orbit.
Source: www.jpost.com
