The planned kinetic impact mission would aim to achieve three key objectives: altering the orbit of a target asteroid, monitoring the entire impact event to collect critical data on impact velocity and momentum transfer, and conducting long-term observations of the asteroid's orbital and morphological changes to evaluate the effectiveness of the impact, per another Xinhua report.The proposed Chinese mission comes as international attention on asteroid defense grows.
The United Nations established the International Asteroid Warning Network and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group in 2014.Space objects with diameter below 10 meters would burn out while entering Earth atmosphere.
While researchers said asteroids tens of meters in diameter represent a more realistic threat compared with kilometer-scale asteroids, which could cause global disasters but are extremely rare.
Smaller asteroids are more difficult to detect because of their faintness, leaving many outside existing catalogs.The proposed Chinese mission has identified asteroid 2015 XF261 as a potential target.
The observer would arrive at the asteroid months ahead of the impactor to conduct close-range observations and collect data on its physical properties.
File Photo: VCG
China is studying an on-orbit kinetic impact test mission for planetary defense that would target a small near-Earth asteroid about 30 meters in diameter, a scenario considered closer to a real asteroid threat than NASA's 2022 Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which struck a much larger and well-characterized binary asteroid system, the Global Times learned from sources related to Chinese aerospace research.Unlike the DART, which hit the 160-meter moonlet Dimorphos of the Didymos binary asteroid system at about 6 km/s and verified that kinetic impact could alter an asteroid's orbit, China's proposed mission would aim to test both orbital deflection and structural disruption effects, with a potential impact speed of about 9 km/s on a target asteroid when it is within 10 million kilometers from Earth, according to researches.The proposed mission is designed to "hit accurately, push effectively, measure precisely and explain clearly," aiming to verify key technologies for future planetary defense, including high-speed impact, collision effect monitoring and orbital deflection assessment, per the source.China has been advancing research on near-Earth object (NEO) defense in recent years. The 2021 white paper on China's Space Program said China would "study plans for building a near-earth object defense system, and increase the capacity of near-earth object monitoring, cataloguing, early warning, and response," according to Xinhua News Agency.In April 2025, Chinese scientists have proposed launching the country's first on-orbit asteroid deflection demonstration mission around 2027. The planned kinetic impact mission would aim to achieve three key objectives: altering the orbit of a target asteroid, monitoring the entire impact event to collect critical data on impact velocity and momentum transfer, and conducting long-term observations of the asteroid's orbital and morphological changes to evaluate the effectiveness of the impact, per another Xinhua report.The proposed Chinese mission comes as international attention on asteroid defense grows. The United Nations established the International Asteroid Warning Network and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group in 2014.Space objects with diameter below 10 meters would burn out while entering Earth atmosphere. While researchers said asteroids tens of meters in diameter represent a more realistic threat compared with kilometer-scale asteroids, which could cause global disasters but are extremely rare. Smaller asteroids are more difficult to detect because of their faintness, leaving many outside existing catalogs.The proposed Chinese mission has identified asteroid 2015 XF261 as a potential target. The asteroid is estimated to have a diameter of around 30 meters, although its exact size, shape, composition and rotation characteristics remain uncertain due to limited observations.The concept involves launching an observer spacecraft and an impactor together. The observer would arrive at the asteroid months ahead of the impactor to conduct close-range observations and collect data on its physical properties. The impactor would then strike the asteroid, while the observer and ground-based facilities would monitor the collision and evaluate changes in the asteroid's trajectory.Whether the impact will result in orbital deflection or structural disruption remains unclear and will require further verification, a source familiar with the matter told the Global Times.Simulation studies showed that a 580-kilogram impactor traveling at about 9.3 km/s could produce measurable orbital changes. Under different assumptions regarding asteroid composition and momentum transfer efficiency, the predicted deflection distance could reach hundreds to thousands of kilometers one year after impact, while long-term simulations indicated the asteroid would not pose an increased threat to Earth over a century-scale period.Researchers also highlighted key technical challenges. Compared with DART, a real planetary defense mission targeting smaller asteroids would require earlier and more reliable detection of faint objects, autonomous identification among dense star fields, rapid selection of impact points on irregular rotating bodies, and high-precision guidance and control during the final approach phase.The research indicates that China's future asteroid defense is expected to focus on ground-based and space-based monitoring networks, impact simulation systems and autonomous navigation technologies for deep-space defense missions.The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on June 30 that China will establish a coordinated ground- and space-based monitoring system for near-Earth asteroids to provide early warning and monitoring support for planetary defense against potential asteroid impacts.However, the source said that the mission target could still be adjusted, as the project is currently only at the simulation and feasibility study stage.
