China plans mass rocket launch to divert asteroid that could wipe out life on Earth

The 78 billion kilogram Bennu has a 1-in-2700 chance of hitting the Earth

Chinese researchers want to send more than 20 rockets from the country to practise diverting asteroids away from Earth.

Scientists at China’s National Space Science Centre found in simulations that 23 Long March 5 rockets, which weigh 900 tonnes when they leave the planet, hitting simultaneously could divert an asteroid from its original path by nearly 9,000 kilometres – 1.4 times the Earth’s radius.