International Legal Aspects of the Asteroid Threat Prevention

Abstract

More than 900 discovered near-earth objects (NEOs), which size exceeds 140 meters, are designated as potentially hazardous natural objects (PHNOs), in other words asteroids and comets which can be a threat to Planet Earth. Experts believe that the total amount of PHNOs consists of more than 6000 objects.The existing factors such as the active media coverage, the states’ and international organizations’ attention and the public interest provoke the urgency of the asteroid threat issue. Due to baffling complexity of this problem and expensiveness of projects considering its solution the goal of prevention of the asteroid threat can be accomplished only with the consolidated efforts of the whole international community.The article concentrates on the main directions of international cooperation in the sphere of the asteroid threat prevention. The international policy concerning the NEO hazard can be divided into four groups:detection, observation and exploration of NEOs;development and use of interception, deviation and destruction measures to the PHNOs;monitoring and warning of the PHNOs;informational and educational work.