24 April 2022
Wu Yanhua, Deputy Director of the CNSA, told China's CCTV News recently that China will start to build an Earth-based and space-based NEA (near-Earth asteroid) monitoring and warning system, in order to ensure the safe, stable and orderly operation of spacecraft. China will categorise the risks posed by NEAs and explore techniques to mitigate 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.
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