Asteroid impact – governance (extract Global Catastrophic Risk report 2022)

The issue of near-Earth objects (NEOs) has long been on the agenda of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), the primary United Nations body for coordinating and facilitating international cooperation in space activities. Here we list other initiatives to address the global challenge posed by NEOs, including detection, tracking and impact risk assessment and, subsequently, planetary defence measures like civil protection or asteroid deflection. Authors: Gerhard Drolshagen, University of Oldenburg and ESA, Lindley Johnson, NASA, and Romana Kofler, UNOOSA.