The target of the mission may change as China refines its launch window.
Of the 31,000 near-Earth asteroids that have been discovered, about 2,300 are considered potentially hazardous byNASA.
These are asteroids that come within 30 million miles of our planet.
An illustration of an asteroid drifting through space.©NASA/JPL-Caltech
Chinas upcoming mission will send two spacecraft to orbit the asteroid for a period between three to six months.
If this sounds slightly familiar, thats because NASA pulled off a similar mission not too long ago.
Afollow-up missionwill launch in October to study the aftermath of the DART mission.
China wants to get in on the planetary defense action, launching what is essentially those two missions combined.
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