NEOShield: a global approach to mitigate the asteroid impact hazard

Besides being objects of great scientific interest, Near Earth Objects (NEOs) also represent a well-founded threat to life on our planet. However, up to now there has been no a concerted international plan on how to deal with the impact threat and how to organize, prepare, and implement mitigation measures. The European NEOShield project aims to address this problem. NEOShield is a consortium of 13 research institutes, universities, and industrial partners and includes leading US and Russian space organizations. The primary aim of the project is to study in detail the three most promising mitigation techniques: the kinetic impactor, blast deflection, and the gravity tractor, and to devise feasible demonstration missions. The NEOShield project is funded by the European Union with a total of 5.8 million Euros for a period of 3.5 years. The kick-off meeting took place at the DLR Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, in January 2012, while the first progress meeting was scheduled on May 31 - June 1 at the Paris Observatory. While we will give particular emphasis on the NEOShield activity carried out at the Paris Observatory, we will present and discuss the whole proposed 42 months work plan, which includes the tasks listed in the following section.