China aims to launch a planetary defence mission by 2030, planning to strike an asteroid with a Mach 26 projectile, surpassing NASA's Dart in ambition and scale.

Spacecraft to hit at 9km/s, equivalent to over 26 times the speed of sound near sea level and nearly 50 per cent faster than Nasa’s mission.

China aims to launch a planetary defence mission by 2030, planning to strike an asteroid with a Mach 26 projectile, surpassing NASA's Dart in ambition and scale.