Analysis: The asteroid threat: should we worry?

Abstract

In a world where so much emotional energy is expended on climate change and its possible mitigation, the status of planetary defence against asteroid impacts seems strangely underplayed. This is probably because it evokes images of Bruce Willis laying nuclear charges on a marauding space rock, rather than a room full of grey-haired academics debating risk corridors, probabilities and Monte Carlo simulations. In the real world, the latter is closer to the truth. The recent IAA Planetary Defense Conference in Granada, Spain, was the third in the series and the first to be sponsored by the International Academy of Astronautics. It provided a forum for scientists, engineers and policy experts to discuss the discovery and tracking of near-Earth objects (NEOs), potential deflection technologies, and public and political preparedness for any unavoidable, possibly devastating impacts.