Japan Also Demonstrates 'Planetary Defense' Technology... Second After the U.S.

Space Probe Makes Close Approach to Asteroid
Technology for Altering Orbits by Colliding Spacecraft

Japan has successfully demonstrated space technology to defend Earth from asteroid collisions. This marks the second such success in the world, following the United States.

According to Japanese media outlets such as the Yomiuri Shimbun on July 6 (local time), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced the previous day that it had succeeded in verifying planetary defense technology using the space probe Hayabusa 2.

Japanese space probe Hayabusa 2. JAXA official website

Planetary defense refers to technology aimed at protecting Earth from asteroids that have a high probability of collision. It involves early detection of potentially hazardous asteroids and either altering their trajectories or minimizing damage from a possible impact. A common method is to change the asteroid's orbit by crashing a small spacecraft into it. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) previously succeeded in such an experiment by using the DART spacecraft to alter an asteroid's trajectory.

The latest test was conducted at around 6:30 p.m. the previous day. The Hayabusa 2 probe approached the asteroid 'Toryfune,' located about 100 million kilometers from Earth. Hayabusa 2 captured images of the asteroid with its onboard camera and autonomously adjusted its own trajectory. However, the experiment did not reach the stage of actually colliding with the asteroid to change its orbit. The purpose of this test was to confirm how precisely the probe's trajectory could be controlled.

An asteroid is a small celestial body that has orbited the Sun since the early formation of the solar system. Unlike regular planets such as Earth, asteroids travel in elliptical orbits, which sometimes leads them to collide with the surfaces of other planets.

An asteroid impact can trigger disasters on the scale of natural catastrophes. The 'Tunguska event' in Siberia, Russia in 1908 was the result of such an asteroid collision, burning down roughly 2,000 km² of forest—an area comparable to the size of Tokyo prefecture.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.