New Monitoring and Orbit-Changing Technology Aims to Protect Earth from Potential Threats
China is moving forward with an ambitious asteroid defense project, aiming to test its capabilities by 2025. The state-backed Global Times reported that the new system, developed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), will monitor asteroids and could even alter their paths if they pose a danger to Earth.
According to Wu Yanhua, CNSA’s deputy director, the defense system will rely on both ground-based and space-based tracking technologies to catalog nearby asteroids. With the completed system, CNSA hopes to detect potentially hazardous asteroids early and deploy a spacecraft capable of deflecting them from a collision course with Earth.
