China planning an asteroid collision mission similar to DART
It appears China is putting together an asteroid collision mission similar to NASA 2022 DART mission that impacted the asteroid Dimorphus.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) mission may have already selected its target — the near-Earth object (NEO) 2015 XF261, a nearly 100-foot-wide (30 meters) asteroid.
According to the small-body database managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 2015 XF261 last came relatively close to Earth just this week, on Tuesday (July 9), when it passed within 31 million miles (50 million kilometers) of our planet. The space rock was traveling at around 26,000 mph (42,000 kph), roughly 30 times faster than the speed of sound.
Much of the information about this proposed comes from a very detailed a Planetary Society report, which said that the mission is targeting a 2027 launch and described the mission as follows:
The plan is for the observer spacecraft to reach the target asteroid first and conduct three to six months of close and orbiting observations to study the asteroid’s size, shape, composition, and orbit. Then the impactor spacecraft will perform a high-speed kinetic energy impact test with the target asteroid. The observer will monitor the entire impact process and evaluate the aftermath for 6-12 months to ascertain the effects.
As with DART, the claim is that this mission is primarily focused on planetary defense (learning how to prevent asteroid impacts of Earth). That claim however is bogus. While that component of the mission exists, it is not the primary purpose, which is to study asteroids themselves.
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It appears China is putting together an asteroid collision mission similar to NASA 2022 DART mission that impacted the asteroid Dimorphus.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) mission may have already selected its target — the near-Earth object (NEO) 2015 XF261, a nearly 100-foot-wide (30 meters) asteroid.
According to the small-body database managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 2015 XF261 last came relatively close to Earth just this week, on Tuesday (July 9), when it passed within 31 million miles (50 million kilometers) of our planet. The space rock was traveling at around 26,000 mph (42,000 kph), roughly 30 times faster than the speed of sound.
Much of the information about this proposed comes from a very detailed a Planetary Society report, which said that the mission is targeting a 2027 launch and described the mission as follows:
The plan is for the observer spacecraft to reach the target asteroid first and conduct three to six months of close and orbiting observations to study the asteroid’s size, shape, composition, and orbit. Then the impactor spacecraft will perform a high-speed kinetic energy impact test with the target asteroid. The observer will monitor the entire impact process and evaluate the aftermath for 6-12 months to ascertain the effects.
As with DART, the claim is that this mission is primarily focused on planetary defense (learning how to prevent asteroid impacts of Earth). That claim however is bogus. While that component of the mission exists, it is not the primary purpose, which is to study asteroids themselves.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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