The Association of Space Explorers (ASE) is pleased to announce
the first of its series of International Workshops on NEO
Deflection Policy. The first of this series of four workshops
will be held at the International Space University (ISU) in
Strasbourg, France from 9-12 May, 2007. The workshops will
culminate in the presentation of a draft United Nations Protocol
on NEO Deflection to the UNís Committee on Peaceful Uses of
Outer Space (COPUOS) in the spring of 2009. During its 2005
Planetary Congress the ASE considered the problem of near-Earth
objects (NEOs) impacting the planet and causing extreme
devastation. While the frequency of such destructive events is
very low (approximately 1 per 1000 years) the blast resulting
from these impacts can range from tens to millions of megatons
of TNT equivalent. At their most destructive, asteroid impacts
have caused mass extinctions, e.g. the Chicxulub impact 65
million years ago which caused the extinction of dinosaurs and
75% of all species. To call the attention o