Speaker
Description
Planetary defense represents a unique socio-ethical and legal challenge being simultaneously everyone’s responsibility and no one’s. A robust planetary defense strategy depends not only on developing technological capabilities but balancing regional and global political interests and creating a “mandate to act” in the case of an impact hazard. Planetary defense activities have the potential to exacerbate political tensions due to the general mistrust between countries from potential dual-use capabilities of planetary defense systems. Outer space is often considered the ultimate “high ground” with Praẑák (2021) noting it already provides “reconnaissance, secure, telecommunications and space situational awareness for both civilian and military uses." Ideally, planetary defense would be treated like weather-related disasters and bring countries together for the "common altruistic good" but the reality can be quite different in this area. This paper will argue that a multilateral agreement for the protection of Earth and the astro-geophysical environment would promote space cooperation, protect our space heritage, and mitigate potential conflict related to planetary defense activities. It considers recent advances in planetary defense science and then applies principles of space law and ethics to evaluate how best to create a global response in the event of a predicted cometary or asteroidal impact.