At the Third International Deep Space Exploration Conference in Hefei on Sept. 5, Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s Lunar Exploration Program and director of the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, unveiled China’s strategic concept for asteroid defense, Xinhua reports.
The program aims to build a comprehensive near-Earth asteroid detection and defense system, including space-ground collaborative monitoring and early warning system capable of precise alerts and routine operation, he said. This is being done in collaboration the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS)
Near-Earth asteroids represent some of the greatest dangers within the Solar System. History underscores the danger: On June 30, 1908, the Tunguska explosion in Russia devastated more than 2,000 square km of forest. (Russian scientist Vladimir Vernadsky arranged the organization of the first expedition under mineralogist Leonid Kulik to investigate the Tunguska event, which he suspected had been a meteor or comet.) In 2013, a meteor airburst occurred over Chelyabinsk of Russia, injuring 1,500 people and damaging 3,000 buildings.
