China to follow NASA's footsteps; will launch spacecraft to crash into hazardous asteroid

China is planning to follow in the footsteps of NASA as the country's space agency is aiming to slam a spacecraft into an asteroid to prepare defence systems for our planet. According to the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the mission is being targeted for launch around 2025 but its destination is yet to be finalised, Daily Mail reported. Wu Yanhua, Director of the CNSA said that once finalised, the mission will target a potentially hazardous asteroid having even the slightest chance of colliding with the Earth.

China's defence system compared to NASA's

In November 2021, NASA launched the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission wherein it would ram a spacecraft into an asteroid to test whether the method could be used to deflect an asteroid approaching Earth. The $325 million mission would see a probe weighing 548 kilograms slam into the 525ft-wide Dimorphous asteroid, orbiting a bigger asteroid named Didymos, at 24,000 kilometres per hour later this year. China's mission also follows a similar path although it is yet to decide which space rock it will be targeting. 

This plan of China was disclosed by Yanhua on April 24, when the country was celebrating its Space Day, to commemorate the launch of Dongfanghong-1, the country's first satellite, in 1970. 

China's space ambitions over the next five years

In a white paper released by the CNSA in January this year,  the agency laid out China's space ambitions over the next five years. The paper also talks about building a near-earth object defence system in a space that would "increase the capacity of near-earth object monitoring, cataloguing, early warning, and response". Vowing to 'continue studies and research on the plan for a human lunar landing', Beijing also aims to complete its space station, probe comets, explore Jupiter and develop advanced manned spacecraft.

"In the next five years, China will integrate space science, technology and applications while pursuing the new development philosophy, building a new development model and meeting the requirements for high-quality development", CNSA said in the paper as per Daily Mail. Notably, the agency is also targeting to 'complete key technological research on Mars sampling and return', and will launch a spacecraft to the asteroid Kamooalewa before 2025.