China mulls carrying out its first near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) defense demonstration test to approach an asteroid and observe it closely before hitting it to alter its orbit around 2030, according to a key expert in the country’s space industry.
Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration, said on April 22 that China has started forming a research and development system for defense against near-Earth asteroids, to improve the world’s capability for monitoring, warning about and handling the extraterrestrial hazards.
“We will make plans for the defense system, develop defense simulation software and arrange exercises for essential procedures. We want to share our solutions with other members in the international community and work with others to safeguard the mother planet’s safety and its people,” he said.
Chinese scientists have been discussing approaches about diverting potentially dangerous asteroids for years and have produced preliminary solutions.
Internationally, the United States’ NASA and the European Space Agency have started experimental programs that involve space- and ground-based assets to track, calculate and warn about asteroids headed toward Earth.
