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Planetary Defense

Global Collaboration for Defending Earth from Asteroids and Comets

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Editors:
  1. Nikola Schmidt

    1. Department of Political Science, Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

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  • Explores the political feasibility of planetary defense
  • Provides a comparison and assessment of available political models regarding planetary defense
  • Suggests a complex policy, as well as engineering and architectural solutions to building a strong planetary defense

Part of the book series: Space and Society (SPSO)

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Table of contents (27 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxxv
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  2. Introduction: Planetary Defense as the Unique Historical Opportunity to Shape Our Shared Destiny

    • Nikola Schmidt
    Pages 1-12

  3. Defining the Threat and Current Efforts

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13
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    2. The Cosmic Impact Hazard

      • David Morrison
      Pages 15-32

    3. What Are NEOs and the Technical Means and Constraints of Solar System Mapping?

      • William Crowe
      Pages 33-48

    4. Methods, Means and Governance of NEO Observation

      • Peter Vereš, Nikola Schmidt
      Pages 49-70

    5. Technical Architecture to Deepen Our Solar System Awareness

      • Peter Vereš
      Pages 71-93

    6. Vision of Perfect Observation Capabilities

      • Peter Vereš
      Pages 95-112

    7. Overview of Active Planetary Defense Methods

      • David Morrison
      Pages 113-121

    8. NASA NEO Deflection Application: Current Capabilities and Limitations

      • Nahum Melamed
      Pages 123-138

    9. Near-Earth Objects and the United Nations

      • Romana Kofler, Daniel Garcia Yarnoz, Martin Staško
      Pages 139-150

    10. A Consideration of a National Approach: The US Planetary Impact Emergency Response Working Group (PIERWG); A Joint Effort Between NASA and FEMA

      • Leviticus A. Lewis
      Pages 151-162

  4. Thinking About the Risk, Responding to the Threat and the International Dynamics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 163-163
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    2. Evolution of Security Studies and the Resulting Perspectives of an Asteroid Threat

      • Nikola Schmidt
      Pages 165-179

    3. Asteroid Impact Risk Assessment: Rationalizing the Threat

      • Clemens M. Rumpf
      Pages 181-203

    4. Uncertainty and Risk at the Catastrophe Threshold

      • Mark Boslough
      Pages 205-215

    5. Conceptualizing the Asteroid Threat and Searching for a Balanced Answer Between Effectiveness and Desirability

      • Nikola Schmidt
      Pages 217-230

    6. Weapons of Mass Protection? Rogue Asteroids, Nuclear Explosions in Space, and the Norms of Global Nuclear Order

      • Michal Smetana
      Pages 231-244

    7. Dilemmas for Planetary Defense Posed by the Current International Law Framework

      • Nikola Schmidt, Martin Švec
      Pages 245-260

    8. ‘No Conscience of Its Own’: The Need for Global Space Ethics Review

      • Evie Kendal
      Pages 261-274
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Keywords

About this book

Planetary defense from near-Earth objects such as asteroids is a far more nuanced and challenging topic than it might seem. Each day, technology is making it easier to detect asteroid impact threats in advance, but at present, there is still no easy way to design and implement any form of global defense.


This book examines how various asteroid deflection methods can change global political affairs. The authors believe that the final policy for potential Earth impacts should be based on practical engineering solutions and innovative architectural structures, while at the same time reflecting the most recent political science contributions in ethical security studies and security cosmopolitanism. Their focus is not limited to effective engineering solutions, but rather extends to how such proposals resonate in possible political structures of the future. 


Planetary defense cannot be achieved with technology alone; thechapters in this volume highlight the issues that arise when space science and technology intersect with political science. This complex interdisciplinary project not only demands global participation and collaboration, but also proposes the way we can achieve it. The authors explore various concepts of governance and their far-reaching implications for planetary defense and vice versa—how scientific progress in Solar System observations and asteroid collision engineering influence political science and put pressure on the international legal framework. 


The text is intentionally written for a diverse scholarly and diplomatic audience in a style accessible to non-specialists and practitioners and can be read by those across diverse disciplinary backgrounds.










Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Political Science, Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

    Nikola Schmidt

About the editor

Dr. Nikola Schmidt (born 1982 in Prague, Czech Republic) is currently a leader of Planetary Defense project with an objective to deliver a policy strategy on planetary defense and asteroid mining for the Czech Ministry of Transport. The project consists of astronomers, space engineers, international lawyers and political scientists. He finished his PhD in 2016 at Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences and Institute of Political Studies with a dissertation on The Birth of Cyber as a National Security Agenda. Nikola has been extensively teaching courses on space and cyber security at various Czech universities. His passion in space issues can be dated long before his master studies of international relations at Metropolitan University. A pivotal moment for Nikola was his participation in the ESA and NASA-funded planetary defense team project at the Space Studies Program, organized by the International Space University in Athens, Ohio, US in 2015. Nikola received a bachelor’s degree in sociology and studied international security at Sciences Po in Paris. His recent articles were published in Acta Astronautica and New Space. Nikola founded and led two software development companies before coming back to academia and worked on a NGO-driven food facility project in Afghanistan.






  

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