China Announces Mission to Deflect Asteroid by Colliding Spacecraft With It
The last decade has seen increased attention to threats from beyond our global borders, dangers that lurk in space. So much so that the major space agencies have different plans to deflect, should one occur … If necessary, asteroids on a direct trajectory to Earth. In fact, this would not be something new for our planet (if not, tell that to the dinosaurs that died out 65 million years ago).
After NASA successfully proved two years ago with the DART mission that a spacecraft could deflect one of these space rocks (at least one was 160 meters in diameter) with its punch, China wants to do the same with its technology. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) may have even identified its target: the “small” asteroid 2015.
At least, that’s what a study published in the Chinese Journal of Deep Space Exploration (JDSE) suggests, explaining a mission in which two spacecraft would pass close to the asteroid with a dual purpose: one would hit it, and the other would hit it and record everything. Although it notes that the final destination of the journey will be specified “depending on the actual launch window,” which is expected to occur “before 2030.”
In the footsteps of DART
The truth is that this is not the first time China has expressed interest in conducting a mission of this type. Already in 2022, which also coincided with NASA’s DART mission, the man responsible for developing the controversial and powerful Long March rocket, Long Liehao, announced during a conference that the Chinese space agency was studying the possibility of conducting a similar mission, although it was against it. Asteroid 2020PN1 is the size of a school bus.
At the time, a two-spacecraft mission was also proposed: an impactor that would collide with the space rock; and an orbiter that would monitor the aftermath of the collision. This was the original idea for the DART mission, which was originally planned to be carried out in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA). However, due to problems with European budgets, ESA distanced itself from the project, although it will launch the Hera probe the following September, aimed at the asteroid that DART hit and which it will arrive at in 2026.
In fact, in April 2024, Wu Weiren, director of the China Deep Space Laboratory (DSEL), set a more precise launch date for the mission — 2027. May of that year. However, the rock would be 32 million kilometers away, three times farther than Dimorphos, the asteroid that DART hit, which was 11 million kilometers away and took ten months to reach.
CNSA may have another chance to hit 2015 XF261 in April 2028, when the asteroid will be about 21 million kilometers away. But the best opportunity for such a mission will likely come in April 2029, when the asteroid will come within 6.8 million kilometers of Earth. It won’t be the last on that timeline: in April 2030, the space rock will be 7.1 million kilometers away.