China is getting ready for its debut planetary defense trial: The daring mission to divert an asteroid from its path.
As telescopes continue to advance, more potentially dangerous objects are appearing in the catalogs. It has been decided that it is time to seriously test a defense strategy.
An unprecedented demonstration mission
The announcement was made by Wu Weiren, chief designer of the Chinese lunar program. The operation involves two probes: the first will study the target up close, measuring its size and trajectory accurately. The second, millions of kilometers away. It may sound minimal, but on a cosmic scale it is enough to deflect a rock from a collision course.
The urgency of being proactive
recognize that the number of near-Earth objects with impact risk grows each year. , more than 26,000 have been cataloged and at least 2,000 are considered potential threats. is based on three pillars: early detection, intervention in orbit, and automatic response capability. And while kinetic impact is the central technique, more extreme scenarios are also being considered, which could include the use of nuclear explosives.
Learning from previous missions
. This year has already launched the Tianwen-2 mission, which aims to bring back samples from the asteroid 2016 HO3 and then visit a comet. It is, in part, a testbed to perfect approach and impact maneuvers. , which in 2022 managed to alter the orbit of Dimorphos, an asteroid moon, in 33 minutes. That success was the first real demonstration that planetary defense is viable.
More than a space race
Wu Weiren insists that this is not a technological competition, but a global necessity. China has offered to share data and observations, adding ground-based and orbital telescopes to an international network. The message is clear: in the face of cosmic threats, there are no individual winners. Only a humanity capable of acting in time.
