China Assembles Planetary Defense Team – Because Space Rocks Don’t Care About Borders

China is officially getting in on the “let’s not get hit by an asteroid” game. With asteroid 2024 YR4 now topping the European Space Agency’s risk list (a fun little list no one really wants to be on), China’s State Administration of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense has launched a planetary defense team. Basically, they’re hiring smart people to watch the skies and figure out how to keep giant space rocks from ruining our plans for 2032.

So, What’s the Deal with 2024 YR4?

This asteroid, discovered in December by the University of Hawaii’s Institute of Astronomy, is somewhere between “meh” and “oh, that’s concerning” in size—ranging from 40 to 90 meters (130 to 300 feet) wide. The ESA gives it a 2.2% chance of hitting Earth in 2032, which is either “not worth worrying about” or “hmm, maybe we should do something” depending on how optimistic you are.

China’s Plan? Hire the Nerds.

China wasted no time posting job listings for asteroid tracking experts, because someone’s gotta do the math on this thing. The team will focus on monitoring space threats and developing early warning systems. If we’re lucky, they’ll also come up with a “move it somewhere else” strategy—because as cool as an asteroid apocalypse sounds in movies, it’s not exactly ideal in real life.

Other Countries Are Watching Too

NASA has already dubbed 2024 YR4 the “most annoying space rock of the moment”, and other agencies are keeping close tabs on it. Meanwhile, the 2022 DART mission proved that we can smack an asteroid hard enough to change its course—so worst case, we’ve got a space battering ram option.

For now, China’s getting its planetary defense squad together, and the world is waiting to see what happens next. One thing’s for sure—if 2024 YR4 decides to drop by uninvited, at least someone will be paying attention. Probably.