China plans to send a combined asteroid deflection and observation mission to a small, near-Earth space rock next year.
Asteroid Deflection and Observation Test
In the paper entitled "Asteroid defense test mission scientific goal design and payload configuration," the Chinese scientists have advanced a plan of constructing a spacecraft that will be smashed into a target asteroid; most likely, they intended to have the test mission before 2030-probably next year.
The target of the planetary defense mission was revealed during the presentation at the 8th IAA Planetary Defense Conference in Vienna, Austria held from April 3-7.
The mission is to target the 2019 VL5 asteroid, a small space rock measuring 98 feet (30 meters) in diameter. It takes this asteroid 365 days to orbit the Sun and comes near Earth in its orbit.
The proposed spacecraft will be tucked inside a Long March 3B rocket. The spacecraft is made of two parts, an observer and an impactor, both of which will be launched as a dual-device combination.
Then, each of them will take different trajectories following the launch, said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program. One will make it to 2019 VL5 to conduct reconnaissance and study the topography, and the other will follow a collision course with the asteroid.
The impact spacecraft will crash headlong into the asteroid, hoping to deviate its flight path by 1-2 inches (3-5 centimeters). Though minuscule at first, the deviation might build to 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) over three months.
After the impact, the observer spacecraft will be brought back around to check in on the asteroid. China is also preparing ground-based telescopes and, in due course, space telescopes like Xuntian, for follow-up observations.
Planetary Defense Mission
China announced its asteroid smashing mission last year, where it revealed its plans to craft an entire planetary defense system which includes tracking asteroids, collecting meteorites, and developing deflection technologies.
The planetary defense test is similar to NASA's DART mission, which slammed into an asteroid in September 2022 and successfully altered its trajectory. While the DART targeted a binary asteroid system, China's mission aims for a much smaller asteroid.
The mission is also part of a wide planetary defense plan devised by China and involves an asteroid detection and early warning system to counter the threats posed by near-Earth objects. The impact is set to test the possibility of protecting our planet against any hazardous space rocks, much like the one that killed the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago.
Information on mission planning revealed that China is using its first tst mission not only in looking for ways to face the threats of NEOs but to learn what these primordial planetary objects can tell about the Solar System.
China's space program is competing with the US on most fronts, including the goal to finally achieve a sustained presence on the lunar surface. For this planetary defense mission, there is little gain for everyone to compete since we are in a confrontation with an extraterrestrial threat. He believes that maybe the entry of China as a new player will open up possibilities for collaborations.
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