Commentary Most Americans will enjoy their Thanksgiving this year unaware that a new arms race between China and democracies may be unfolding in the heavens. Defending planet Earth from rogue asteroids has been a longstanding concern of the United States and some of its allies. The European Space Agency (ESA) estimates that the impact of just a 150-meter diameter asteroid could approach the power of a 180-megaton nuclear explosion, or 9,000 Hiroshima size bombs. Since January 2016, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Planetary Defense Coordination Office has been charged with tracking space objects large enough to threaten Earth and organizing a defense. On Nov. 24, 2021, NASA is scheduled to launch the initial American effort to test technologies that could be used to defend against threatening asteroids. The Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) mission will test a new solar electric propulsion drive to see if an estimated Oct. …