Report on University of Nebraska-Lincoln Conference "Near-Earth Objects: Risks, Responses and Opportunities-Legal Aspects"
von der Dunk, Frans
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Just prior to the present Granada Conference, on April 23-24 the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) has organised a Conference on "Near-Earth Objects: Risks, Responses and Opportunities-Legal Aspects", with the support of inter alia the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) and the Secure World Foundation. This conference, as the title already indicates, dealt with the main legal aspects involved in responding at an international level and in an economically and technically effective, as well as politically acceptable manner, to possible threats posed by NEO's in the future. Thus, the UNL Conference addressed such issues as the governance structure to be developed for making the relevant decisions possible, the proposals put forward in this respect by the ASE Report "Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response", the legal status of asteroids, state responsibility and potential liabilities involved in the process of responding to asteroid threats, as well as the possibilities for private enterprise to both join relevant efforts and benefit from them as well, for example through exploitative activities. Apart from a number of sessions addressing a number of specific issues and discussing them amongst speakers and other participants, there will be a panel including high-level representatives from UN member states addressing in particular the international governance ramifications, as well as a simulation exercise illustrating some possible approaches to responding to NEO's in the above context. The present paper reports on the UNL conference, the major points of discussion and the conclusions arrived at, and will also summarise the panel discussion and the simulation exercise, since it is expected a number of those issues would and/or should feed into the discussions at the Granada conference.