Papers are solicited for the 1st IAA Planetary Defense Conference: Protecting Earth from Asteroids. The conference will bring together worldwide experts and students to discuss:

• Detecting and tracking asteroids and comets that might be hazardous to our planet,
• Characteristics of these objects,
• Deflecting a threatening object should one be detected,
• The nature of impact disasters, and
• Political, legal and policy issues that must be considered as part of an overall mitigation strategy.

Participants will develop a set of actionable recommendations that will help to improve our ability to successfully defend Earth from possible impacts. Throughout the conference asteroid Apophis will be considered as a reference scenario to focus the discussions (current information on Apophis is posted at http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis).

This conference will follow the model of the 2004 and 2007 Planetary Defense Conferences. See www.planetarydefense.info for details on the 2004 and 2007 conferences.

ABSTRACT SUBMITTAL
Technical paper abstracts (250 to 500 words in length) will be accepted electronically through the official online submission form. Please be sure to designate the topic area your paper addresses (see Session Topics below).

The deadline for receipt of abstracts is 15 December 2008. Letters of official acceptance and instructions for paper submission will be mailed on or before 15 January 2009.

Accepted papers (including poster papers) will be published in the official conference Proceedings. Selected peer-reviewed papers will be published in Acta Astronautica. Authors of all poster papers will be invited to present two-minute overview presentations during the regular session. The format for papers will be that provided on this website as soon as possible.

RESEARCH STUDENT COMPETITION "ENCOUNTER 2029: STUDENTS INVESTIGATING APOPHIS" Undergraduate and graduate researchers are invited to submit abstracts on the theme ENCOUNTER 2029: STUDENTS INVESTIGATING APOPHIS. Subjects for papers might include: small asteroid environment modeling and effects (e.g., plasma, dust, solar radiation, Yarkovsky); dynamics and control related to Apophis-like rendezvous and intercept scenarios; innovative deflection strategies and mission architectures, etc. The best student paper will be awarded a prize. If you intend to participate, please select the "student abstract" box in the abstract submission form. If you are a masters or Ph.D. student on 1 December 2009 and intend to participate, please select the "student abstract" box in the abstract submission form.