A team at the China National Space Administration plans to strike an asteroid with a spacecraft traveling over 9km per second in 2029 or 2030 to test planetary defence.
The plan is led by Li Mingtao, chief scientist for planetary defence at the China National Space Administration. The spacecraft would impact at more than 9km per second, equivalent to over 26 times the speed of sound near sea level and nearly 50 per cent faster than NASA’s DART mission at 6.1km per second.
The goal is to directly alter an asteroid’s orbit relative to Earth or even break up its structure. The paper is under peer review by the Chinese-language Journal of Deep Space Exploration.
The impact is planned during a close approach to within about 7 million km of Earth in 2029 or 2030. The paper describes the speed and mission parameters but does not name the specific asteroid.