China Plans Mach 26 Asteroid-Deflection Test to Protect Earth
TL;DR Summary
China's CNSA outlines a two-spacecraft, Mach-26 asteroid-deflection test scheduled for a 2029–2030 Earth-close approach, targeting near-Earth asteroid 2015 XF261 (~30 meters) and altering its trajectory relative to Earth. One craft would strike the asteroid while a second observes its orbit, shape, and surface both before and after impact. The mission would launch the two spacecraft together and aims to provide a more realistic planetary-defense scenario than NASA's DART, which changed Dimorphos’ orbit by about 33 minutes and used follow-on observations from LICIACube and Hera.
- China Wants to Slam a Spacecraft Into an Asteroid at Mach 26 Gizmodo
- China plans bold asteroid collision test to outpace NASA's DART mission Interesting Engineering
- Astronomers plan to hit near-Earth asteroid at 26 times the speed of sound The Independent
- China plans to hit an asteroid with a Mach 26 projectile in planet defence test South China Morning Post
- Planetary defense test: China plans targeted collision with asteroid Table.Briefings
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