Planetary defence conference, Granada, Spain

The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) will hold its first conference on protecting our planet from impacts by asteroids and comets from 27 to 30 April in Granada, Spain.

The conference will bring together international experts to discuss:
- detecting and tracking asteroids and comets that might be hazardous to the planet;
- characteristics of these objects;
- deflecting a threatening object should one be detected;
- the nature of impact disasters;
- decision-making in an emergency;
- political, legal and policy issues that must be considered as part of an overall mitigation strategy.

At present, there are over 900 asteroids and comets that are designated potentially hazardous objects (PHOs), objects larger than about 140 meters that could eventually threaten Earth.

A particular focus of the conference will be Apophis, a 270-meter asteroid discovered in 2004 and which has a current probability of 1 in 45,000 of impacting the Earth in 2036. The conference will also disseminate a wide range of the latest information related to planetary defence.For further information, please visit:
http://www.congrex.nl/09c04/