General Information

Planetary Defense Conferences

1st IAA Planetary Defense Conference:

Protecting Earth from Asteroids

The 1st IAA Planetary Defense Conference: Defending Earth from Asteroids will be held on April 27-30, 2009 in Granada, Spain. The conference is sponsored by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and The Aerospace Corporation. To become a sponsor, please contact asteroid@aero.org. For more information, go to the conference web page.

2007 Planetary Defense Conference

March 5-8, 2007

The Cloyd Heck Marvin Center

George Washington University

Washington, D.C.

April 16, 2007: Conference White Paper (pdf)

The objective of the conference is to develop a white paper that assesses the current state of our ability to discover and track near-Earth objects (NEOs—objects that could possibly impact Earth) and our ability to successfully deflect a threatening object should one be detected. Included will be recommendations on:

What must be done to enhance our ability to discover threatening objects?
What sizes of objects pose the greatest threat and what are the options available for deflecting an object?
How can a deflection mission be designed to ensure the highest probability of success?
What political, policy, and legal actions would be required?
How public confidence in our ability to mount a successful mitigation mission can be enhanced?
How should we prepare for and respond to an impact-related disaster?

The conference will follow a systems approach to planetary defense, similar to that followed for the 2004 Planetary Defense Conference. Topics to be discussed include:

Current activities and status of efforts to discover and track NEOs, asteroids and comets that cross the Earth’s orbit and could one day be a threat
Updates from Deep Impact, Hyabusa, and other recent missions
How a NEO impact might affect Earth and our environment and how the risk varies as a function of object size?
The engineering aspects of the problem—what are our options for deflecting an oncoming body?
What would a deflection mission look like? What can we do if an object on a collision course is discovered today?
What are critical nonengineering aspects of the problem— How should information on impact risks and mitigation measures be communicated to the public? What are the political, policy, and legal issues that would affect the approval and execution of a mission? How should we prepare for and respond to a disaster of this type?
How should international activities and capabilities be coordinated and incorporated into an overall deflection effort?