Abstract
This poster is an advocacy document. We believe that it is now time for an international coalition of military/industrial/atomic agencies to take on the tasks of designing, building and maintaining in readiness active defenses against asteroids and comets threatening to impact Earth.
We visualize a policy environment where a relatively small portion of existing defense resources is redirected to Planetary Defense, with already-established ground and space PD efforts allocated increased backing and increased responsibility in supporting roles. A main part of the needed policy structure is already in place.
An International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) and a Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) [1] are functioning under auspices of the UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). In the near term, intercept action will be launched upon validation of an impact threat by IAWN and SMPAG.
The activity should start with conventional technology while awaiting needed international policy changes allowing use of nuclear energy, essential in the case of less-likely but more dangerous threats. An important side benefit of the proposed collaborative military involvement would be increased knowledge of the risk and increased trust among nations.