China mulls building defense system against near-Earth asteroids

BEIJING -- China is set to build monitoring and defense systems protecting the planet from the dangers of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs).

Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), told China's CCTV News recently that China will start to build an Earth-based and space-based NEA monitoring and warning system, in order to ensure the safe, stable and orderly operation of spacecraft.

China will categorize the risks posed by NEAs and explore techniques to neutralize those risks, said Wu.

Furthermore, China plans to set up an NEA defense system, map out an NEA defense blueprint and develop virtual software to simulate NEA-derived risk scenarios.

The country hopes to approach an asteroid to observe it closely before impacting it to alter its orbit in 2025 or 2026, a rehearsal to prevent NEAs from endangering our planet in the future, according to Wu.