Precautionary Planetary Defence
Abstract
The question of whether to attempt deflections during planetary defence emergencies has been subject to considerable decision-making analysis (Schmidt 2018; SMPAG Ad-Hoc Working Group on Legal Issues 2020). Hypothetical situations usually involve a newly discovered asteroid with a high impact probability on a set timescale. This paper addresses two further complexities: (1) limiting missions to an asteroid due to the risk of a human-caused Earth impact; and (2) active management of asteroids to place them in "safe harbours", even when impact risks are otherwise below "decision to act" thresholds. We use Apophis as a case study, and address the two complexities in turn.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2106.11241,
title = {Precautionary Planetary Defence},
author = {Aaron C. Boley and Michael Byers},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2106.11241},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
Conference paper presented at the 7th IAA Planetary Defense Conference, 26-30 April 2021, Vienna, Austria. IAA-PDC-21-11-37