NEO CONFERENCE - International Academy of Astronautics

Dr. Jean-Michel Contant, Secretary General of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), founded in 1960 by Dr. Theodore von Kármán, presented the IAA Report on NEO detection, tracking and deflection, completed in December 2008.

The report describes the technological challenges and requirements for detection and tracking of NEOs, identifying technologies that can be used for detection and deflection, assessments of the risks (response depends on threat) and the need for a globally coordinated response plan. Details on how to establish the latter, however, remains undefined.

The role of IAA vis-a-vis NEOs is to promulgate comprehensive, accurate information about the NEO threat and sponsor international workshops to examine any or all technical, social, or policy aspects of NEO problem, among other things.