Leaflet is now available: pdf version leaflet.

Call for Papers

Papers are solicited in the areas listed below for the 2023 IAA Planetary Defense Conference, hosted by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, in cooperation with the European Space Agency, the Commission for Geosciences of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and under the auspices of the International Academy of
Astronautics (IAA). Papers/posters eligible for the student competition should be indicated as such during submission.
Limited financial support for students may be available; please contact conference chairs.
A broad theme of the conference is to highlight technologies, techniques, missions, data sets, and processes that have been and must be developed to support planetary defense and strengthen international cooperation for protecting the Earth from impact hazards associated with asteroids and comets. Special highlights include recent space missions related to planetary defense, a hypothetical asteroid threat exercise, and panel discussions by decision-makers, legal experts, disaster managers and others.

Topic areas for papers include:

Ongoing and Upcoming Mission Highlights
• Current and proposed space missions to inform and test planetary defense technologies
• Highlights of DART, Hera, Hayabusa2, OSIRIS REx/APEX, NEO Surveyor, Apophis, etc.
Hypothetical Asteroid Threat Exercise
• The details of the hypothetical asteroid threat exercise will soon become available in full at
https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/pd/cs/pdc23/
• Any contributions to the topics below based upon the exercise are welcome
Key International and Policy Developments
• Policy planning and developments towards an international planetary defense strategy
• National and international activities, strategies and plans for planetary defense
• Proposal for International Year of Planetary Defense in 2029

Near-Earth Object (NEO) Discovery
• Current NEO survey progress, requirements, and goals for future surveys
• Astronomical and space-based techniques for discovery of NEOs
• Prospects for future NEO survey systems and efforts (e.g., LSST)
Near-Earth Object (NEO) Characterization
• Findings related to characterizing NEO physical, dynamical, and orbital properties.
• Characterization of properties most crucial to planetary defense mission success and disaster preparation and mitigation planning.
• Technologies to characterize NEOs via remote sensing and spacecraft flyby/rendezvous/landing.
• Current and planned flight missions to NEOs; Opportunities from NEO close approaches.

Deflection / Disruption Modeling & Testing
• Results of modeling/experimentation that characterize effects of proposed NEO deflection and disruption
techniques and technologies
• Progress on key technologies needed to deflect, disrupt, or otherwise mitigate hazardous NEOs
Space Mission & Campaign Design
• Development and validation of critical technologies for planetary defense.
• Designs for planetary defense flight validation missions.
• Design of in-space mission campaigns to respond to hazardous NEOs (reconnaissance, characterization, mitigation).

Impact Effects & Consequences
• Hazards of individual impactors; ensemble hazard integrated over the predicted population of impactors
• Analysis tools that could aid decision makers.
• Process of atmospheric break-up and airbursts for a variety of NEO types and lessons learned based on Tunguska and Chelyabinsk super-bolides
• Transition from regional to global effects as a function of impactor size, location, and other factors.
• New results on the effects of ocean and land NEO impacts and related damage footprints.
• Short- and long-term post-impact effects on the atmosphere, environment, near-Earth space and space systems (e.g., communications)

Disaster Management & Impact Response
• Lessons learned from past natural disaster responses, exercises, alerts, public education, risk communications strategies and warnings, and their application to Planetary Defense Management.
• Review of current and near-future disaster response plans and preparations specific to NEO impacts, incl. communication strategies for warning and informing decision makers, the general public and others.
• International perspective on disaster management in view of regional and national assets.

Public Education and Communication
• Current status of planetary defense / NEO-related communication and public education efforts, including dissemination, alerts, public engagement, student programs, outreach initiatives, etc.
• Concepts for improving trusted NEO / planetary defense public education and communication.

The Decision to Act: Political, Legal, Social and Economic Aspects
• Outlook on current and future national and international planetary defense / NEO-response policies and decision-making processes, including any envisioned participation of nations’ military organizations in planetary defense.
• International coordination and collaboration, and distribution of responsibilities for planetary defense.
• Legal aspects of NEO mitigation.
• Cost effectiveness of mitigation options.
• Short and long term economic, political, and social consequences of a serious threat or an impact
• Ethics of Planetary Defense.

STUDENT COMPETITION: One or more of the best student paper(s)/poster(s) will be awarded a prize. The aim
of the student competition is to help promote academic work and informed political debate by enhancing research
and general understanding essential for sound decision making on NEO impact threats in years to come.