China builds 'most powerful radar' to protect Earth from asteroids

China recently began building "the world's longest-range radar system". It should improve the planet's protection system from asteroids and help in the study of near-Earth space.

According to Chinese media, a new plant is currently under construction in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing. for active high-resolution deep space observation, codenamed China Fuyan (faceted eye).

The facility will include distributed radars with more than 20 antennas, each with a diameter of 25 to 30 meters. The Beijing Institute of Technology, the lead organization for the project, said the antennas will be combined to observe asteroids within 150 million kilometers. This corresponds to the distance from the Earth to the Sun.

According to Long Teng, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the researchers gave the system the colorful name China Fuyan, precisely because of the numerous antennae, which together are very similar to compound eyes insects.

The new radar in Chongqing will help the country explore the area between the Earth and the Moon, including finding a suitable landing site for the Tianwen-2 probe. It should be launched in 2025.

The purpose of Tianwen-2 is to study the near-Earth asteroid (469219) Kamoalev with the return of samples of its soil to Earth. Scientists first discovered this celestial body, called the "permanent satellite of the Earth", in 2016. Exists assumptionthat it is a long-time breakaway part of the moon.