In 1957, with the launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, a space era began in which, through research and innovation, interesting and outstanding advances have been achieved in various areas and topics that emerge from this world.
However, despite the advances and achievements, there is a great pending task: the development of asteroid deflection technologies, something that China began to explore in detail.
Making up for the weaknesses of advances in space technology
The presence of all kinds of bodies in orbit is a potential threat to Earth. Particularly in the case of asteroids, if one of these hits our planet, it could generate serious consequences, such as those that, according to the estimates of the scientific world, ended up extinguishing the dinosaurs.
Asteroid deflection technologies have been present mainly in film productions and other works of fiction. However, in practice it has been a very little explored area.
Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), announced last week that they plan to carry out an asteroid deflection test in 2025, as part of a larger asteroid monitoring and defense system, which the CNSA is currently preparing in its early stages of development. This surveillance system will consist of ground and space instruments, used to catalog near-Earth objects that represent possible threats.
The relevance of implementing a system of this type lies in the fact that the more opportune the reaction, the easier it will be to deflect an asteroid. A minor touch, a light touch on an asteroid, is enough to divert its trajectory and thus separate it from our planet. If you react late, it would be more difficult to change your course.
According to estimates of scientists, among the identified objects in the solar system, no body poses a realistic threat to Earth. Currently, the object with the highest risk, known as 2010 RF12, has a 4.8% probability of impacting the Earth in 2095. It is a 7-meter asteroid, which in such a case would cause a fireball similar to the meteor from Chelyabinsk in 2013.
CNSA’s new asteroid monitoring program will be combined with an engineering effort to design and build a high-thrust rocket that can carry a kinetic impactor, which consists of a payload designed to penetrate an asteroid with enough force to change its orbit. The target asteroid they plan to test this instrument on is, so far, an unannounced one.
NASA and ESA are working on their own alternatives to this plan. NASA’s DART mission will impact Dimorphos, a small lunar asteroid, in September of this year; followed in 2027 with Hera, an ESA mission that will closely observe the consequences of the impact.
