Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2019 Exoatmospheric Plowshares: Using a Nuclear Explosive Device for Planetary Defense Against an Incoming Asteroid David A. Koplow Georgetown University Law Center,
[email protected] This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/2197 https://ssrn.com/abstract=3229382 UCLA Journal of International Law & Foreign Affairs, Spring 2019, Issue 1, 76. This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub Part of the Air and Space Law Commons, International Law Commons, Law and Philosophy Commons, and the National Security Law Commons EXOATMOSPHERIC PLOWSHARES: USING A NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVE DEVICE FOR PLANETARY DEFENSE AGAINST AN INCOMING ASTEROID DavidA. Koplow* "They shall bear their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks" Isaiah 2:4 ABSTRACT What should be done if we suddenly discover a large asteroid on a collision course with Earth? The consequences of an impact could be enormous-scientists believe thatsuch a strike 60 million years ago led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, and something ofsimilar magnitude could happen again. Although no such extraterrestrialthreat now looms on the horizon, astronomers concede that they cannot detect all the potentially hazardous * Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center. The author gratefully acknowledges the valuable comments from the following experts, colleagues and friends who reviewed prior drafts of this manuscript: Hope M. Babcock, Michael R. Cannon, Pierce Corden, Thomas Graham, Jr., Henry R. Hertzfeld, Edward M.