STOCKHOLM, Sweden \u2014 China has identified a new target near-Earth asteroid for its first planetary defense kinetic test mission, which is scheduled to launch in December 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Long Lehao, a senior official with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and a chief designer of China\u2019s Long March rocket series, presented a slide at the 2026 Commercial Aerospace Industry Development Conference in Shenzhen, south China, indicating that the redirect test mission would target asteroid 2016 WP8<\/a>. While not an official declaration, it provides a rare and likely authoritative update consistent with earlier mission profiles.<\/p>\n 2016 WP8 is a small Aten-class asteroid, meaning it crosses Earth\u2019s orbit but spends most of its orbit inside that of the Earth\u2019s. The planetary defense test and verification mission will launch on a Long March 3B rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center and carry separate impactor and observer spacecraft.<\/p>\n According to a previously released mission profile<\/a>, the observer spacecraft will embark on a flyby of Venus on the way to 2016 WP8 ahead of rendezvous in 2029, allowing a few months of observations. The kinetic impactor, initially remaining in orbit around the Earth, would then impact 2016 WP8 later in 2029, with the observer spacecraft making follow-up assessments of the impact, including how the impact may have altered the asteroid\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n Veteran space official Long Lehao presented some interesting slides at a conference in Shenzhen. This states China’s 1st planetary defence test mission is due to launch Dec. 2027 on a CZ-3B, with separate impactor & observer spacecraft. Targeting “2016 WP8” (which may not exist) pic.twitter.com\/WqOJSTfFfp<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) March 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n China announced plans for its first planetary defense mission in 2022. Principles for selecting a target asteroid included avoiding objects considered a risk before or after an impact, having an orbital inclination less than five degrees, favorable brightness for viewing and multiple observation opportunities, potential science value, and launch windows between 2025-2027.<\/p>\n The initial target was 2020 PN1, a small, Apollo asteroid, another class of Earth-crossing asteroids that are mostly outside the orbit of the Earth, with launch around 2026. A revised mission profile identified 2019 VL5, a 30-meter-diameter, Aten asteroid, scheduled for a 2025 launch. The mission was then rescheduled for 2027<\/a>, targeting 2015 XF261, another small Aten-class asteroid, according to a presentation at the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) 45th Scientific Assembly in South Korea in 2024.<\/p>\n Chinese officials previously stated they have made breakthroughs on multiple related key technologies, including high-speed impact and deflection modeling simulations. It is also soliciting suggestions<\/a> for the name of the mission from the public through the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL).<\/p>\n China\u2019s latest Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), the outline of which was approved in Beijing last week, includes a commitment to conducting the country\u2019s first planetary defense test and verification mission along with a series of plans for commercial space, reusable rockets, constellations and deep space.<\/a><\/p>\n Scientists are also proposing space-based observatories for detecting and tracking near-Earth objects to improve early warning systems, including spacecraft which could be stationed at orbits including the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 and Venus-like orbits.<\/p>\n The new target for China\u2019s planetary defense test mission is likely smaller than Dimorphos, the satellite of near-Earth asteroid Didymos which NASA targeted and impacted with its DART mission in 2022<\/a>. ESA\u2019s Hera spacecraft is scheduled to rendezvous with Dimorphos in November this year for follow-up observations of the asteroid and the effects of the DART impact. China\u2019s mission aims to cover both the impact and observation segments from DART and Hera with a single launch.<\/p>\n China\u2019s Tianwen-2 near-Earth asteroid sample return mission is meanwhile closing in on asteroid Kamo\u2019oalewa<\/a> and expected to rendezvous with the object in the coming months.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t