Planetary Defense
Description
This book examines how various asteroid deflection methods can change global political affairs. The authors believe that the final policy for potential Earth impacts should be based on practical engineering solutions and innovative architectural structures, while at the same time reflecting the most recent political science contributions in ethical security studies and security cosmopolitanism. Their focus is not limited to effective engineering solutions, but rather extends to how such proposals resonate in possible political structures of the future.
Planetary defense cannot be achieved with technology alone; thechapters in this volume highlight the issues that arise when space science and technology intersect with political science. This complex interdisciplinary project not only demands global participation and collaboration, but also proposes the way we can achieve it. The authors explore various concepts of governance and their far-reaching implications for planetary defense and vice versa-how scientific progress in Solar System observations and asteroid collision engineering influence political science and put pressure on the international legal framework.
The text is intentionally written for a diverse scholarly and diplomatic audience in a style accessible to non-specialists and practitioners and can be read by those across diverse disciplinary backgrounds.
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Content
Acknowledgements.- Dedication.- Foreword.- Preface.- List of Contributors.- Chapter 1: Introduction: Planetary Defense as the Unique Historical Opportunity to Shape Our Shared Destiny.- Part I: Defining the Threat and Current Efforts.- Chapter 2: The Cosmic Impact Hazard.- Chapter 3: What are NEOs and the Technical Means and Constraints of Solar System Mapping?.- Chapter 4: Methods, Means and Governance of Solar System Observation.- Chapter 5: Technical Architecture to Deepen Our Solar System Awareness.- Chapter 6: Vision of Perfect Observation Capabilities.- Chapter 7: Overview of Asteroid Threat Mitigation Methods.- Chapter 8: NASA NEO Deflection Application: Current Capabilities and Limitations.- Chapter 9: Near-Earth Objects and the United Nations.- Chapter 10: A Consideration of a National Approach: The US Planetary Impact Emergency Response Working Group (PIERWG) A Joint Effort Between NASA and FEMA.- Part II: Thinking About the Risk, Responding to the Threat and the International Dynamics.- Chapter 11: Evolution of Security Studies and the Resulting Perspectives of an Asteroid Threat.- Chapter 12: Asteroid Impact Risk Assessment: Rationalizing the Threat.- Chapter 13: Uncertainty and Risk at the Catastrophe Threshold.- Chapter 14: Conceptualizing the Asteroid Threat and Searching for a Balanced Answer Between Effectiveness and Desirability.- Chapter 15: Weapons of Mass Protection? Rogue Asteroids, Nuclear Explosions in Space, and the Norms of Global Nuclear Order.- Chapter 16: Dilemmas for Planetary Defense Posed by the Current International Law Framework.- Chapter 17: 'No Conscience of its Own:' The Need for Global Space Ethics Review.- Chapter 18: The Conundrum of Commercial Space.- Part III: The Architecture of Global Collaboration on Planetary Defense.- Chapter 19: The Overview Effect and Planetary Defense.- Chapter 20: Cosmopolitan Rationale for Planetary Defense.- Chapter 21: Dawn of Cosmopolitan Order? The New Norm of Responsibility to Defend Earth And the Planetary Council.- Chapter 22: Global Space Governance Mechanisms and Planetary Defense Mechanisms.- Chapter 23: New Enemy, Old Pact? Past Defense Pacts and Future Planetary Defense Treaty.- Chapter 24: Why a World State is Unavoidable in Planetary Defense: On Loopholes in the Vision of a Cosmopolitan Governance.- Chapter 25: The Moon Base as a Commercial Hub.- Chapter 26: The Multipurpose Lunar Base as a First-Line Biosphere Defense and as a Gateway to the Universe.- Chapter 27: Will Planetary Defense Change a Realist World?.- Index.