The Need to Match Action with Legislation: Some Inconsistencies in the OST
AZCARRAGA ARANA, ALVARO¹; GONZALEZ FERREIRO, ELISA^2
1SENER INGENIERÍA Y SISTEMAS; ²CEDE (CENTRO ESPAÑOL DE DERECHO ESPACIAL)

The perception of a potential asteroid impact on Earth is growing, and remedies are sought. The Outer Space Treaty, written in very different times as those of today, was not looking to external hazards when it was adopted but it offers the legal basis to proceed the study about the global Earth's protection. The technicalities involved, like the YORP effect, requires a close collaboration between engineers and scientists, in one side, and legislators, on the other side, to choose the appropriate wording to enable an effective attitude in front of this global menace. There is not a simple answer, and sometimes the solution may be as well considered a menace.

The paper also will raise the issue of the difficulty to armonize the 1967 Treaty as applied to planetary defense, article IV OST, and in a broather sense, the matters related with the global response to the risk ad ex the opposed States attitudes to the present global finantial collapse. Actually, we have a semi coordinated response to such dire situation, and this will may be the first step to reach a suitable and complete coordination for other potential global disasters.