Earth is still haunted by asteroids that at any time have the potential to fall and destroy mankind. In order to protect the planet, China has ambitions to use the Moon as a bulwark.
For a long time, the threat of asteroids that could destroy Earth has been a matter of debate. The fall of the space object to Earth has the potential to cause chaos, even to the fullest level.
The fear of an asteroid impact is reflected in the extinction of the dinosaurs in about 65 million years caused by a large asteroid strike.
The risk of the disappearance of the dinosaurs happening again is quite low, because about 60% of asteroids large enough to destroy an entire country have not been tracked. The last major incident because of an asteroid on Earth was in the 1970s.
Therefore, as an anticipation, China has an idea that tends to be ambitious in protecting the Earth from these threats, namely by making the Moon a defense post.
Quoted from Mashable, Wednesday (27/7/2022) to make this happen, China will build two optical telescopes and place them in the northern and southern polar hemispheres of the Moon. Later, the telescope scans the surroundings, detecting if there are asteroids or celestial bodies that threaten Earth.
In addition, China will also deploy three guard satellites into the Moon's orbit around Earth. The spacecraft is armed with a number of kinetic weapons, if a dangerous asteroid is detected, this satellite can do its job.
"It will have the ability to intercept asteroids coming from all directions, and can form a defensive circle about twice the size between the Moon and Earth with a diameter of about 800,000 km," said Wu Wieren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program.
Currently, the plan is still in the development stage. However, the system will consist of a giant telescope and a radar system that is positioned both on the ground and in the outer atmosphere.
With the revelation of the mission to protect Earth from asteroid strikes, it signals that China is growing rapidly as a formidable space power in recent years.