Within the past several weeks, China has announced a series of initiatives related to planetary defense. At the end of June, it unveiled plans to establish an asteroid early-warning network for planetary defense. A few days ago, China also released further details about its asteroid deflection mission, which has been under development for several years. The mission is currently scheduled for 2027, although the launch date may still change. The mission is expected to involve sending a spacecraft to impact an asteroid in an attempt to alter its trajectory and, potentially, disrupt its structure.
These steps are part of broader long-term plans. In 2018, China joined the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG), both of which operate under the auspices of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. The 2021 Space White Paper elevated planetary defense to one of China’s policy priorities for the coming years, outlining plans to develop a near-Earth object defense system by improving its monitoring, cataloguing, early warning, response, and disposal capabilities.
In 2022, China established the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL), which is responsible, among other tasks, for conducting research on planetary defense. DSEL is led by Wu Weiren, one of China’s leading space engineers and the chief designer of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. In February 2025, Chinese media reported that the government had opened three new positions for planetary defense experts. The following month, DSEL organized a conference on near-Earth asteroid defense, attended by more than 50 Chinese experts.
