Xinhua: China Aims Its ‘Eye’ at Asteroids

Xinhua: China Aims Its ‘Eye’ at Asteroids

China is going to use its new China Comprehensive Eye complex to protect the Earth from asteroid collisions. The Chongqing-based facility will be able to monitor the trajectory of a football-sized asteroid tens of millions of kilometres away to determine whether it could pose a threat to our planet, Xinhua reports.

China plans to use its new China Comprehensive Eye complex to monitor asteroids and Earth-type planets hundreds of millions of kilometres away as part of work to protect Earth from asteroid collisions, Xinhua reports.

The Chongqing Innovation Center at the Beijing Institute of Technology, which designed and built the China Comprehensive Eye, recently published the first three-dimensional radar map of the lunar crater region obtained using a high-definition deep-space observation facility.

According to academician Lun Teng of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the setup consists of a massive array of radar antennas that make it look like an insect’s eye, with many tiny eyes for wide-angle and wide-range observation.

A 3D map of the lunar craters was produced from observations by four radars built in the first phase of the project. The mapping of the crater region was completed to test the feasibility of the radar antenna system.

The plan is to build 25 high-resolution radars in the second phase of the project, each having a diameter of 30 m.

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