Chinese scientists have proposed launching more than 20 rockets into space, in order to divert the course of the asteroid Bennu, which threatens a potentially catastrophic collision that could end life on Earth.

The danger lurking in the asteroid Bennu

The asteroid "Bennu" is a space rock weighing 85.5 million tons, located at a distance of 7.5 million km from Earth, and scientists estimate that it can collide with Earth in the time period between 2175 and 2199.

Asteroid Bennu is a space rock weighing 85.5 million tons located at a distance of 7.5 million km from Earth (NASA)

The kinetic energy of Bennu's impact on Earth is estimated at 1200 megatons, which is 80,000 times greater than the energy of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

And you know that the kinetic energy of the space rock that killed the dinosaurs was estimated at about 100 million megatons.

Bennu is classified as a "B" asteroid, which means that it contains high amounts of carbon, and may contain many primitive molecules similar to those that existed on Earth with the emergence of life on it.

NASA has sent the Osiris-Rex spacecraft to collect samples from the asteroid Bennu.

Indeed, the spaceship arrived at Bennu in 2020, and it circled around the asteroid, as it collected loose pieces from its surface with a 3-meter-long arm, and it is expected that Osiris-Rex will return to Earth by 2023.

NASA sent the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to collect samples from the asteroid Bennu (NASA)

23 "Long March 5" missile

According to the recent study published on June 24 in the journal ICARUS, researchers at the Chinese National Space Science Center see that 23 Long March 5 rockets, each weighing 992 tons. , it will be enough to deviate the asteroid Bennu from its current path by an estimated 9,000 km, which is equivalent to 1.4 times the radius of the Earth.

"Asteroids pose a major threat to all life on Earth," said Mingtao Li, a space science engineer at the National Space Science Center in Beijing and lead author of the new study. An asteroid off the likely path of impact is critical to mitigating the potential danger."

Diverting a potential asteroid is critical to mitigating potential danger (NASA)

Sino-American consensus

And what Chinese scientists suggest in their aforementioned study is similar to a suggestion made by NASA.

NASA's plan, known for its acronym "HAMMER", provided for sending a fleet of spacecraft 9 meters high, with a devastating impactor to keep the asteroid off its course.

NASA simulations indicate that diverting the asteroid Bennu would require 34-53 strikes from the HUMMER spacecraft, which will be launched 10 years before the estimated date of Bennu's collision with Earth.

As for the Chinese "Long March 5" rockets, they are the outcome of the work of the Chinese space program, and most of the deliveries to the Chinese space station have been completed, and Chinese probes have been launched to Mars and the Moon.

China's Long March 5 rockets are the result of the work of the Chinese space program (French)

Numerous doubts and concerns about the efficiency of this type of missile have been raised in the past, due to its uncontrolled return to the ground. Where the 22-ton part of the "Long March 5" missile fell to the ground last May, burning in the sea near the Arabian Peninsula, and it is believed that the fragments of the same type of missile fell in May 2020 and crashed over two villages in Ivory Coast.