China is expanding its research and recruitment efforts in response to the emerging asteroid threat posed by 2024 YR4. The asteroid, initially detected by the University of Hawaii's Institute of Astronomy on December 27, 2024, at the ATLAS Observatory in Chile, stirred global concern due to its potential to collide with Earth in 2032.
Weeks after the asteroid's discovery, China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense published a recruitment notice, seeking specialists for three key vacancies within its planetary defense initiative.
The potential impact of asteroid 2024 YR4 could unleash an energy output of about eight megatons, parallel to an atomic bomb explosion. If it entered the Earth's atmosphere, the resultant airburst could mirror the infamous Tunguska event of 1908, resulting in far-reaching devastation.
China's response also involved strategic research into asteroid mitigation techniques. Proposed methods included gravitational attraction and laser ablation to alter the asteroid's path, according to the South China Morning Post. Simultaneously, a proactive monitoring and early warning system was underway, aimed at arming humanity with the time needed to respond effectively to such extraterrestrial threats.
"We will be able to more clearly assess the probability of an asteroid collision with Earth," stated Li Mingtai, a researcher at the National Center for Space Science under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Mingtai also pointed out that chances for further observation and risk assessment would re-emerge in 2028, offering another opportunity to gauge the asteroid's trajectory.
Astronomers labeled 2024 YR4 the most hazardous near-Earth object since 2004, with a diameter estimated at about 70 meters. In anticipation of a potential oceanic impact, as Li suggested, the asteroid could induce tsunamis threatening coastal cities.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq