Life is becoming more and more like sci-fi films. China recently announced its first conceptual plan about asteroid defense mission in order to prevent a near-Earth asteroid from hitting the earth around 2030. How will it do it? By changing the asteroid’s orbit. 

The blueprint for asteroid defense involves two spacecraft — an impactor and an observer. 

They will be launched into space on a single rocket, after which the observer will move around the asteroid to monitor it. Then when the time is right, it will guide the impactor to strike it. The impactor will make the asteroid change its course and the risk to the earth will be averted. 

There are over 35,000 potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids in our solar system. They pose a potential threat to the Earth as even a low-probability impact event could be catastrophic. In 2022, NASA successfully altered the orbit of an asteroid called Dimorphos to neutralize an impact threat.

China understands the gravity of the threats posed by near-Earth asteroids. It is prioritizing the development of its asteroid defense mission and calling for international cooperation.