Experts at China's National Space Science Centre have proposed launching a fleet of rockets into space to deflect near-Earth objects away from Earth.
The asteroid Bennu is their goal, a 1,614-foot (492-meter) broad spinning-top-shaped body whose orbit will bring it within 7.5 million kilometers of Earth from 2175 to 2199.
The space rock will be designated as potentially harmful at this time, with scientists predicting a 1-in-2,700 risk of colliding with the Earth.
According to Chinese simulations, the simultaneous impact of 23 'Long March 5' rockets, each weighing about 900 tons, could throw Bennu 5,592 miles off course.
This is 1.4 times the Earth's radius, and it might mean the difference between the asteroid passing by and crashing into the planet with catastrophic results.
"Asteroid impacts pose a major threat to all life on Earth," wrote paper author and space science engineer Mingtao Li of the National Space Science Center in Beijing.
"Deflecting an asteroid on an impact trajectory is critical to mitigating this threat," he added per Daily Mail.
Researchers would require a significant amount of kinetic energy to knock an asteroid-like Bennu off its original course.
While nuclear-powered explosions may appear to be the natural choice for such a mission, this strategy would risk the target breaking up into several bits, which may then collide with the Earth.
Dr. Li, on the other hand, believes that within ten years, it will be possible to fight against huge asteroids with nuclear-free technology.
China to Launch Numerous Rockets to Strike Near-Earth Object
The Chinese team's proposal calls for numerous rockets to strike Bennu simultaneously, after traveling three years from Earth to reach the same surface.
By not separating from the rocket's upper stage, each 'deflector' ship — called an 'Assembled Kinetic Impactor' — the effectiveness of each 'deflector' craft — called an 'Assembled Kinetic Impactor' — would be boosted, bringing more mass to bear on the impact.
According to the team, the Long March 5 rocket would only need minor changes to be repurposed for an asteroid deflection mission, such as the inclusion of maneuvering thrusters.
The Long March 5 rocket is the same one that performed an uncontrolled re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in May of this year.
Fortunately, the misbehaving rocket ship disintegrated safely over the Indian Ocean, causing no damage.
However, China is not the only country developing measures to deflect asteroids that could collide with the Earth.
HAMMER ('Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response') is a US concept study that looks into the effectiveness of utilizing spacecraft as a kinetic or nuclear impactor against an asteroid.
According to NASA models, deflecting Bennu onto an alternative track would need 34-53 HAMMER hits, all launched 10 years before the asteroid and Earth were set to collide.
However, if HAMMER had a 25-year lead time, experts may lower the number of launches to only 7 to 11 every year.
Experts reported the full findings of the study, titled "Assembled Kinetic Impactor for Deflecting Asteroids by Combining the Spacecraft With the Launch Vehicle Upper Stage," in the journal Icarus.
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