China is preparing a groundbreaking planetary defense mission to test whether a spacecraft can alter the trajectory of a potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroid.

China is developing its first near-Earth asteroid defense mission, with plans to deliberately impact an asteroid using a high-speed spacecraft around 2029 or 2030. The mission is designed to demonstrate technology that could one day help protect Earth from potentially dangerous asteroids.

The proposed target is 2015 XF261, an asteroid estimated to be around 30 metres in diameter. During a close approach in 2029 or 2030, it is expected to pass roughly 7 million kilometres from Earth, providing an opportunity for scientists to study the effects of a controlled kinetic impact.

China’s mission is expected to use two spacecraft: an impactor that will collide with the asteroid and an observer that will monitor the asteroid before and after the impact. Scientists will study changes in its orbit, surface, structure and debris.

The mission follows NASA’s successful Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in 2022, which demonstrated that a spacecraft impact can change an asteroid’s motion. China’s project could represent another major milestone in planetary defense, asteroid detection and space technology.