Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine January 2018 - 20

Systems Engineering Approach Using Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD)
tion because as of today there is no nation with a powerful plan
to protect such hazards. Even regional space agencies or national
ministry of defense may not be able to detect PHOs in advance; as
it was, the case of the Chelyabinsk meteor hitting Russia was actually observed by an amateur Spanish astronomer [26]. The United
Nations (UN) Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
(COPUOS)-led global collaboration structure presents several
challenges, especially for taking deflection and mitigation actions.
There is currently no political will to do so, due to the fact that the
impact threat is not taken seriously by states. "No government in
the world today has explicitly assigned the responsibility for planetary protection to any of its agencies," said Rusty Schweickart
(quoted according to Moskowitz [36]). These challenges include
the following:

We acknowledge it is possible that none of the above recommendations will be implemented before the discovery of an imminent threat that begins the discussion of a potential unilateral or
multilateral response that is not approved by the UN.

OUTREACH AND EDUCATION
The following list provides a set of recommendations that we
believe should be implemented from the outreach and education
point of view to reach the level of preparation needed for the optimistic scenario:
C

1. No high-level leadership. There is no country that wants to
voluntarily initiate the creation of a deflection and mitigation
mission entity.
2. Technical uncertainties. No observed asteroids or comets have
yet been confirmed to be on a collision course with Earth. The
Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) has held
three meetings and there has been no deflection or mitigation
plan proposal.

3. UN COPUOS, as a committee reporting to the 4th committee
of the United Nations General Assembly, has to make decisions
by consensus. The groups that it has established have advisory
functions but not action functions. The deflection missions will
most likely be accomplished using technology that can be easily understood as weapons. This issue is outside of the comfort
zone of UN COPUOS and would draw the attention or intervention of other, higher-level authorities.
Some experts are not convinced that UN COPUOS can develop
an adequate framework for international decision making and coordinated actions; the current situation is not desirable [37]. Even
UN COPUOS itself, in its 2015 session, presented that the technical work of International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN)
and SMPAG would have to be complemented by high-level political decision-making mechanisms so that measures to counter an
emerging threat could be implemented in a timely and effective
manner [38].
Our review of the existing UN activities and groups in the area
of planetary defense led to the following recommendation. We believe in the creation of a new norm called the Responsibility to
Defend Earth, which would be an extrapolation of the Responsibility to Protect. This new norm and its associated actions could be
applied to its implementation in the following five phases:

C
C

Phase I: Solar System Situational Awareness-a global observation effort
Phase II: Technology development-a global move
Phase III: Defensive infrastructure deployment-a global
concern

Phase IV: Being prepared-a global challenge

Phase V: Failure-a global disaster

A younger audience needs to be targeted for outreach and
education efforts to inform more people of the asteroid and
comet threats. Conferences, workshops, and web pages concerning planetary defense already exist, however, the number of people involved is very limited.
A badge for scouting organizations should be created to
reach out to children and young adults. By reaching out to
children and students, the future leaders and decision makers
will be educated, giving us a better chance of survival when
it comes to protecting it from potentially hazardous objects.
Web pages with visually appealing data as the Asteroid Data
Explorer need to be promoted. Having an accurate and updated information available to the general public will prevent them from being diverted by false sources, conspiracy
theories, and avoid panic in case of a real threat.
The scenario created within the Kerbal Space Program needs
to be developed further, for example as a mod. The mobile
game app concept developed within this team project needs
to overcome the concept phase. The game intends to educate
players by providing real data with which to play.
Reach out people through informative videos on planetary
defense. Space agencies also need to adopt the mascot Ash
together with his counterpart Pho when it comes to planetary defense so that people around the world can connect
to the same figure. READI team developed an example of
this called "Learning with Ash: Near Earth Objects (NEOs)"
to inspire the leaders of the future and help them to prepare
to meet the global challenges of planetary defense. A comic
incorporating Ash and Pho shall be incorporated the same
way. The team designed Ash and Pho mascots, which are
published in our READI executive summary and final report
[8], [7].

EVACUATION AND RECOVERY
The general mind-set when thinking about a NEO or LPC impact
is that of an extinction-level event with global consequences. In
reality, smaller impacts are much more probable, and can still have
large-scale consequences. Historically, humanity has demonstrated
ingenuity and resilience when confronted by natural disasters, and
it is reasonable to assume that, with proper planning, humans can
survive a NEO or LPC impact as well. We know that it is only a

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

JANUARY 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine January 2018