Home›Global Markets›China›China plans asteroid impact test before 2030 at over 9…

China plans asteroid impact test before 2030 at over 9 km per second

The planned spacecraft would approach within about 7 million km of Earth in 2029 or 2030, with an impact speed over 26 times the speed of sound.

Reported · Written up by our desk · China

China is outlining plans for its first planetary defence mission, aiming to hit an asteroid with a high velocity spacecraft before 2030, according to a newly described plan cited by SCMP Economy.

The effort is framed as more realistic than NASA’s Dart test, which previously nudged one asteroid’s orbit around another. China’s approach would be designed to directly alter the asteroid’s orbit relative to Earth, and possibly break up its structure, the paper said, with the mission led by a team led by Li Mingtao, chief scientist for planetary defence at the China National Space Administration.

SCMP Economy reports that the expected impact speed is more than 9 km per second, versus Dart’s 6.1 km/s, during a close approach within about 7 million km of Earth in 2029 or 2030. The impact speed is described as equivalent to over 26 times the speed of sound near sea level.

The paper is reportedly under peer review by the Chinese-language Journal of Deep Space Exploration, according to SCMP Economy.

More like this

Sources