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China plans to hit an asteroid with a Mach 26 projectile in planet defence test
Spacecraft to hit at 9km/s, equivalent to over 26 times the speed of sound near sea level and nearly 50 per cent faster than Nasa’s mission It aims to directly alter an asteroid’s orbit relative to Earth, “or even break up its structure”, according to a team led by Li Mingtao, chief scientist for planetary defence at the China National Space Administration. The spacecraft was expected to hit its target at more than 9km (5.6 miles) per second – compared with Dart’s 6.1km/s – during a close approach to within about 7 million km of Earth in 2029 or 2030, the paper said. The paper is under peer review by the Chinese-language Journal of Deep Space Exploration. The impact speed is equivalent to over 26 times the speed of sound near sea level.
