9th IAA PLANETARY DEFENSE CONFERENCE 2025

How to detect and deflect asteroids and comets that threaten to impact Earth, and how to mitigate the consequences should an impact be unavoidable, is a vital but complex topic that touches on multiple disciplines, involves multiple stakeholders, and presents multiple options to decisionmakers. Related issues have been extensively researched for many years and a large number of papers,...

Recent recorded instances of asteroid encounters at Tunguska (1908), Chelyabinsk (2013), and other sites show that we are vulnerable to impact hazards and the public are often left ill-informed. More importantly, we have not prepared the public for these threats and how to respond to the wide range of potential asteroid impact hazards, evidenced from the nearly 1,500 reported injuries from the...

Social media has become part of our lives, and for many it is already the main source of information. During the Covid pandemic it became clear that misinformation can put people’s lives at risk. Science communication is relying on trusted sources and the accuracy of the information provided. The planetary defense community is aware of this and is successfully raising the public’s awareness...

One implicit assumption in our planetary defense tabletop exercises is that, in the real world, the participants will be competent and acting in good faith. Recent history demonstrates that this may not be the case. In most of our hypothetical impact scenarios, there will likely be winners and losers. The stakes could be enormous in terms of casualties, economic loss, and geopolitics, and the...

Keywords: NEO, planetary defense, public outreach, asteroids.

Since it was founded in 2006, the Virtual Telescope Project has been a leading facility in sharing online, real-time observing sessions of near-Earth asteroids around the time of their flyby with the Earth. Over more than 18 years, it scheduled and produced hundreds of online events, including the record setting, extremely close...

The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) has implemented an innovative Asteroid Search Campaign designed to promote hands-on activities in Astronomy and Space Science. This initiative has demonstrated significant success in engaging students across university departments, notably triggering a remarkable shift of interest from engineering to astronomical sciences.

By providing experiential learning...

It's Saturday, April 14, 2029. The day before, the Apophis asteroid passed within 40,000 kilometers of the Earth. The time has come to draw lessons from the few months that preceded this unique event in the history of mankind: the information campaign by the scientific community, the exceptional media coverage, the flowering of conspiracy sites of both religious and non-religious obedience,...

Keywords: education, outreach, heritage

Division C of the International Astronomical Union collects together the membership with interests in Education, Outreach and Heritage. The work of the division is highly varied covering astronomy education research, competitions, science communication, astronomy outreach, conservation of historical buildings and instruments, history of astronomy and...