![]() We possess this knowledge thanks to astronomical observations however, we also know that smaller asteroids are hitting the Earth regularly. the 10km wide asteroid that ended the era of dinosaurs) will almost certainly (98%) not hit Earth during the time of the next several human generations. We know that an asteroid capable of causing an extinction event on a global scale (e.g. Planetary Defense: Between the Threat Perception and Cosmopolitan Responsibility The Illusion of a Catastrophic Threat and the Limits of Observational Science Moreover, it would reflect exactly the cosmopolitan Outer Space Treaty legacy and our ethical responsibility to the biosphere in general because we know the problem and we have the means to avert it. Such a security community would not threaten any other states, and it would share its scientific knowledge and technological ingenuity among its members, effectively making high-end industries thrive while binding members of the community to mutually deliver security from asteroids for the foreseeable future. Provide security to all countries without exception. The solution to both problems is to establish a security community based on multilateral principles that could cooperatively develop a planetary defense infrastructure that would The second problem is that the current planetary defense capabilities developed by scientists and, if successful, demonstrated on this double mission, could fade out without a clear and concise political action to establish a sustainable planetary defense capability for foreseeable generations. In the first case, the current situation openly leaves weak non-space-faring countries behind, while the Outer Space Treaty requires exactly the opposite – cooperation on a global scale regardless of the level of economic and scientific development. Two key problems can be recognized here – a lack of global governance and a risk of fading out of the expertise. It neither triggered significant political interest nor did it have any visible follow up. This double mission by NASA and ESA for sending spacecraft called DART (the spacecraft that is to hit the asteroid) and HERA (the spacecraft that is to analyze the consequences) into space has been struggling to receive enough funding from ESA due to one ministerial budget rejection effectively narrowing down the scientific mission to the absolute minimum. An ongoing space mission to hit an asteroid with an objective to demonstrate the possibilities of a kinetic impactor defending the Earth from future asteroids on the collision course, is currently underway. In fact, it is a well-developed international scientific effort. Planetary defense might sound like science fiction. These communities have proved to be surprisingly successful in the past, and the current planetary defense scientific community has almost everything that is needed to begin the discussions over the governance model of how we will defend Earth as humankind if scientists can already demonstrate it. ![]() The answer is to establish a security community. Small states have capacities to contribute to such a community (the principle ofĭiffuse responsibility) they do it already in the current scientific planetary defense programs but in case of an imminent threat non-space-faring states need assurance that the existing planetary defense capabilities will be used for their benefit (the principle of indivisibility) and not misused. This paper argues that given the milestone of DART and the follow-up HERA mission, the time has come to open a serious discussion over establishing global planetary defense governance in the shape of a planetary defense security community following multilateral principles similar to those of NATO but in a significantly smaller form. Given this dynamic, and to continue the development of planetary defense capabilities, not only spacefaring states need a regime under which they can act if others are Moreover, planetary defense capabilities, which are successively being developed, will sooner or later be considered as dual-use technologies. While the scientists might be interested in discovering asteroids, they might not be interested in following up on them for generations nor are they experts in building global planetary defense governance.
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