China Wants to Launch Asteroid Deflecting Mission Like the Movie Armageddon



The China National Space Agency (CNSA) announced that they will also conduct an asteroid deflection mission in 2030. CNSA's target is asteroid (NEO) 2015 XF261 which is 30 meters in diameter. Although it can be considered small, if an asteroid of this size hits the earth it can cause as much damage as an atomic bomb explosion.


In a future mission, a probe will approach (NEO) 2015 XF261 before launching a kinetic impactor onto its surface. Proba will then remain with the asteroid for between 6-12 months to see if its direction changes from its original direction. In addition, this mission also has a secondary mission to analyze the composition of the asteroid and what is produced after it is hit.


This Chinese mission is similar to the DART satellite crashed into the surface of the Dimorphos asteroid in 2022 and managed to change the direction of this stadium-sized asteroid. The only difference is that NASA directly throws a DART the size of a refrigerator onto the asteroid's surface.


For sure, science proves that the mission to deflect the asteroid in the movie Armageddon can be done if a large enough force is applied. If the earth is really hit by an asteroid in the future, we have the ability to avoid extinction like the dinosaurs hundreds of millions of years ago.

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