> ScienceAfter the impeccable success of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, China is now planning to deflect an asteroid later this decade.
According to The Planetary Society, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) is preparing its first planetary defense test which is expected to launch by 2030.
ALSO SEE: NASA Drills Freaky Scenario Where Elusive Asteroid Heads Towards EarthApart from China, Japan is also eyeing a 'kinetic impact' test mission to deflect an asteroid.
The probe which launched in 2014 is expected to rendezvous with the space rock in 2031 and potentially change its orbit.
ALSO SEE: Collision Of NASA's DART With Asteroid Dimorphos Changed Its Shape; Finding Excites Scientists
> Science
After the impeccable success of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, China is now planning to deflect an asteroid later this decade. According to The Planetary Society, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) is preparing its first planetary defense test which is expected to launch by 2030.
Scientists have proposed the near-Earth asteroid 2015 XF261 as a candidate for the mission which will include two probes. One will ram into the space rock to deflect it and the second will conduct impact assessment.
The asteroid 2015 XF261 measures about 100 feet or 30 metres in diameter and it made a close flyby of our planet earlier this month. According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the asteroid was about 50 million kilometres from our planet on July 9 and was travelling at a speed of around 42,000 kilometres per hour.
ALSO SEE: NASA Drills Freaky Scenario Where Elusive Asteroid Heads Towards Earth
Apart from China, Japan is also eyeing a 'kinetic impact' test mission to deflect an asteroid. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) reportedly has plans to repurpose its Hayabusa2 spacecraft to collide with 1998 KY26. The probe which launched in 2014 is expected to rendezvous with the space rock in 2031 and potentially change its orbit.
The said missions by the two nations are driven by the success of NASA's DART mission launched in 2021 which proved that smacking an asteroid can deflect them. It collided with Dimorphos which circles a larger rock Didymos in September 2022 and changed its orbit by about 32 minutes.
These missions are of immense importance as they enable technologies that could save Earth from a planet-killing asteroid. While predicting an impending asteroid armageddon is predictable, it is also the gravest threat that humanity faces.
ALSO SEE: Collision Of NASA's DART With Asteroid Dimorphos Changed Its Shape; Finding Excites Scientists
