Imagine a giant space rock hurtling toward Earth at 50,000 km/h. Sounds like a sci-fi plot? For China’s ‘night-watchers,’ it’s a real-world challenge. 🔭 Meet the scientists racing against cosmic clocks to protect our planet!
Professor Zhao Haibin, a rockstar astronomer at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, shows how China’s growing telescope network spotted 2024 YR4 – an asteroid the size of a football field – months before its close shave with Earth. "We’re Earth’s neighborhood watch," he jokes, while explaining how their data feeds global asteroid-tracking systems.
But China isn’t stopping at detection. Planetary defense strategist Tang Menghui reveals plans straight out of Armageddon (minus Bruce Willis): "We’re developing space-based scouts to map asteroids and test deflection tech – like cosmic bumper cars!" 🛸 The goal? A coordinated shield combining global tech and brainpower.
Why should you care? As Tang puts it: "Asteroids don’t check passports." With NASA and ESA collaborating, this might be humanity’s coolest team project yet. 🌌
