05/29/2026
🌍☄️ Planetary defence is one of the clearest examples of why multilateral cooperation matters.
UNOOSA’s Romana Kofler joined the Global Dispatches podcast recently to discuss how the international community is preparing for the possibility of an asteroid on a collision course with Earth — and why planetary defence is a shared global responsibility.
🎙️ Key takeaways from the conversation:
🔹 An asteroid only becomes a catastrophe if we fail to prepare.
🔹 Through COPUOS, the United Nations helps coordinate international preparedness efforts.
🔹 Mechanisms such as the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) support the detection of potential threats and coordination of response options.
🔹 UNOOSA works to ensure that all countries, regardless of their spacefaring capability, have access to timely information, scientific expertise, and international coordination mechanisms.
We also discussed how recent asteroid monitoring efforts have reinforced the importance of:
✅ transparent communication
✅ trusted scientific cooperation
✅ agreed international processes
As we look ahead to 2029 — the International Year of Asteroid Awareness and Planetary Defence — when asteroid Apophis will make its close approach to Earth, global awareness and cooperation will be more important than ever.
Thank you to Global Dispatches, Mark Leon Goldberg, and the Global Challenges Foundation for spotlighting this important issue!
🎧 Listen to the episode: https://lnkd.in/dfVVZg9c
