Abstract
Planetary defense deals with the threat of impacts by dangerous asteroids and comets, also named as near-Earth objects (NEOs), and the means of their discovery, monitoring, characterization, deflection, or impact disaster management. From the global governance perspective, it is a nascent and highly technical area.
Notwithstanding, that is precisely the reason to look critically into the limits of its contemporary governance model. Besides the biannual Planetary Defense Conference, which allows scientists and public officials to practice scenarios of an incoming asteroid, in 2014 the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) endorsed the creation of a dedicated international expert body, the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG), and the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN).