Chinese researchers propose transforming “Armageddon” asteroids with missiles

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Chinese researchers want to send more than 20 of China’s largest rockets to practice deflecting a large asteroid — a technology that could ultimately be crucial if the killer rocks are on a collision course with Earth.

The idea is more than just science fiction. Sometime between late 2021 and early 2022, the United States will launch a robotic spacecraft to intercept two asteroids relatively close to Earth.

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When it arrives a year later, NASA’s spacecraft will land on the smaller of the two rocky bodies to see how much the asteroid’s path has changed. It would be humanity’s first attempt to change the course of a celestial body.

At the National Aerospace Center in China, researchers found in simulations that simultaneous launches of 23 Long March 5 rockets could deflect a large asteroid from its original course by 1.4 times Earth’s radius.

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Their calculations are based on an asteroid called Bennu, which orbits the sun, and is about as wide as the Empire State Building. It belongs to a class of rocks that can cause regional or continental damage. Asteroids extending more than one kilometer will have global consequences.

The Science Center cited a study recently published in Icarus, a journal on planetary science.

Long March 5 rockets are central to China’s near-term space ambitions – from delivering space station modules to launching probes to the Moon and Mars. China has successfully launched six Long March 5 missiles since 2016, the last of which caused some safety concerns as their remains re-entered the atmosphere in May.

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“The proposal to keep the upper stage of a launch rocket on a guiding spacecraft, and to have a ‘large kinetic collider’ deflect an asteroid, is a rather fascinating concept,” said Professor Alan Fitzsimmons of Queen’s University Belfast’s Center for Astrophysics Research.

“By increasing the mass hitting the asteroid, simple physics should ensure a much greater effect,” Fitzsimmons told Reuters, though he added that the actual operation of such a mission needs to be studied in more detail.

Professor Gareth Collins of Imperial College London said current estimates show there is a roughly 1% chance that an asteroid 100 meters wide will hit Earth in the next 100 years.

“Something the size of a Bennu collision is about 10 times less likely,” Collins said.

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Scientists say changing the asteroid’s path poses a lower risk than detonating the rock with nuclear explosives, which may create smaller fragments without changing its course.

(Reporting by Ryan Wu; Additional reporting by Liangping Zhao. Editing by Jerry Doyle)

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