China plans ambitious mission to protect Earth from asteroids by 2030

China is intensifying its efforts in the field of planetary defense. According to information from the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, Chinese scientists are preparing a project to launch a special projectile that will travel at a speed of Mach 26, with the aim of changing the orbit of potentially dangerous asteroids or destroying them completely.

The project is being coordinated by the China National Space Administration under the leadership of Li Mingtao, a leading specialist in planetary defense. The strategy involves the use of two separate spacecraft: an "impact" module that will head directly toward the object, and an observation spacecraft that will use Venus's gravity assist to monitor the results of the maneuver.

The impact speed is expected to reach over 9 kilometers per second. Researchers emphasize that their mission, planned for 2030, will be significantly more complex than NASA's DART mission from 2022. While the American agency's experiment proved that kinetic impact can change an asteroid's direction, the Chinese plan aims for a deeper change in its orbit relative to Earth.

This initiative is part of a broader strategy by the China National Space Administration, announced in 2026, which combines the exploration of the Solar System with the construction of global planetary security systems.