A global approach to near-Earth object impact threat mitigation

Abstract

There is currently no concerted international plan addressing the impact threat and how to organize, prepare and implement mitigation measures. We report on a new international project to address impact hazard mitigation issues, being the subject of a proposal to the European Commission in response to the 2011 FP7 Call “Prevention of impacts from near-Earth objects on our planet”. Our consortium consists of 13 research institutes, universities, and industrial partners and includes leading US and Russian space organizations. The primary aim of the project, NEOShield, is to investigate in detail the three most promising mitigation techniques: the kinetic impactor, blast deflection, and the gravity tractor, and devise feasible demonstration missions. Furthermore, we will investigate options for an international strategy for implementation when an actual impact threat arises. The European Commission’s funding contribution for the successful project in this Call will be a maximum of 4 million Euro. Final confirmation of funding is preceded by a phase of negotiation between the Consortium and the European Commission. At the time of writing the proposal assessment exercise has been completed and the NEOShield proposal has far exceeded all thresholds for acceptance into the negotiation phase. We anticipate a project duration of some 3.5 years with a kick-off meeting at the end of 2011. In this paper we present a brief overview of the planned scope of the project.