China is one of the nations planning to defend our planet from Asteroid collision. The country has already started with the construction of the biggest radar system to protect our world against asteroid impacts. This is how China is working towards accomplishing this complex goal.
How China is Building a New High Definition Radar System for Planetary Defense
China’s Global Times reports that China is building a new deep space active observation facility to improve its defense against low earth asteroids in the Southwestern city of Chongqing. The observation facility will be built with radars with over 20 antennas.
Each of these antennas will come at 25 to 30 meters. China intends to carry out an advanced observation of asteroids within 150 million kilometers using this high-definition radar system. According to a report from Global Times, this advanced project is named China Fuyan, and the project lead is the Beijing Institute of Technology.
Chinese top scientists revealed that this project is focused primarily on protecting humanity against hazardous space rocks traveling to collide with earth at a fast rate. China Fuyan is similar to NASA’s DART mission, in which NASA intends to test how to redirect asteroids in the future.
This project is established to increase near-earth planetary defense and sense potential dangers heading in our direction. China plans to begin the Fuyan’s construction with about four-meter diameter radars which will be built to test the potential of the facility.
If the four-meter diameter radars responded positively according to plan, Chinese engineers would add more antennae, likely exceeding 20. A high-definition radar system will be created when the radar system has been boosted with more antennae.
After this futuristic project is completed, it will break a record to become the first deep space radar system with the potential of conducting dynamic monitoring, 3D imagining, and active observation of both near-earth objects and space rocks within the Solar System.
Why China is Constructing A Planetary Defense System Against Asteroids
In April 2022, China announced that it would construct a near-earth asteroid monitoring and planetary defense system to safeguard the human race and other living species on Earth. The country planned to build the defense system on the ground and in space.
This system will easily detect asteroids that may cause a threat to Earth. NASA has also begun the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission for a similar purpose. This mission was launched in November 2021 and will arrive at its target asteroid in late 2022. The goal of NASA and China on asteroids is to protect humans from the devastating impact of asteroids.
Remember that Dinosaurs once lived on earth, and they roamed around the planet freely for about 165 million years before extinction. However, about 66 million years ago, the Chicxulub impactor, an asteroid about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in diameter, struck the earth at a tremendous speed.
This impact sent dinosaurs to extinction. On several occasions, the world has continued to witness asteroid impacts. Even with our technological advancements, we cannot clearly detect when an asteroid will collide with earth. This is why China and NASA are investing in Asteroid monitoring and redirection facilities to defend the human race from future impacts. The success of these projects will determine humanity’s future fate.
Conclusion
Asteroids’ impacts have destroyed lives on earth in the past. If we must become an advanced civilization, we must figure out how to protect humanity from asteroid impacts and stay on the safer side. What do you think about this futuristic project that China is currently working on?
