Malta Symposium on Hazardous Near Earth Asteroids Russian Cultural and Scientific Center on Malta 36 Merchants str. Valletta, VLT 10, Malta, phone 356 21 222 030 October 12-16, 2009

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT Preface The Year 2009 according to UNESCO is the Year of Astronomy. So many international scientific conferences, seminars and symposiums are devoted to the contemporary astronomy achievements and problems at large during this year. Among these problems high level attention was paid to the tasks connected with the asteroid hazards. It can be explained by the discovery of big enough asteroids which were very near with collision with the Earth. Very impressive example of such asteroid is Apophis whose very close Earth fly-by is not the last approach to our planet. Its further approaches to the Earth do not exclude collision. And such asteroid is not the only one which is considered as candidate for hitting the Earth with catastrophic consequences. The interest to the problem is reflected by fact that a very representative symposium on the matter was held in Spain in Granada in April and a similar conference is planned to be held in St. Petersburg in September. Because of quite clear mainly logistical reasons the participants of these two events are unfortunately different, which prevents them to exchange their knowledge and expertise. The Symposium to be organised in Malta in October 2009 will allow to overcome this deficiency: it will be held in the Russian Cultural and Scientific Centre in Malta. It will therefore be easily accessible to participants from Russia, EU and other countries. Themes of Symposium The main goal of the Symposium is determined by its title - Motion Control of NEOs: Dream or Reality? To answer this question the following topics are planned to be included in the Symposium program: Evaluation of the level of danger of celestial object catastrophic collision with the Earth. Instruments and methods of detecting hazardous asteroids and determination of their motion. Estimation of asteroids ephemeris determination accuracy with the use of different approaches presently available and planned to be developed in the future. Possibilities to use contemporary astronautics tools to determine and predict motion parameters of asteroids with required accuracy. Existing ground facilities and required characteristics for solving the problem of hazardous asteroids. Active and other methods and instruments for asteroids motion control in order to prevent their collision with the Earth. The list of topics given above does not restrict the items to be discussed during Symposium but gives only overall vision of the tasks area. Organizers The Symposium is organized by: Russian Ministry of Education and Science, Russian Cultural and Scientific Center on Malta, Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Institute of Astronomy of RAS, Institute of Applied Mathematics of RAS with the support and participation of the European Space Agency (ESA). Registration Registration is closed. Call for papers The approximately 500-word abstract is expected to describe main ideas and problems of the paper and proposed solutions. It should be submitted not later than September 9th, 2009. The Program committee will inform the author about acceptance of the paper not later than September 15th, 2009. Program of the Symposium Program of the Symposium is now available. Venue and terms Symposium will be held within the Russian Cultural and Scientific Centre in Malta (36 Merchants str. Valletta, VLT 10, Malta, phone 356 21 222 030) from the 12th to the 16th of October 2009. Program Committee Lev Zelenyi, co-chairman, Space Research Institute (IKI) of Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Nicolas Bobrinsky, co-chairman, ESA (ESOC) Efraim Akim, co-chairman, Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of RAS Dr. Turki Al-Saud, Vice President, KACST, Saudi Arabia Robert Farquhar, co-chairman, KinetX Co., USA Vyacheslav Voronin, Ministry of Education and Science of Russia Boris Shustov, Institute of Astronomy of RAS Lidia Rykhlova, Institute of Astronomy of RAS Detlef Kochny, ESA (ESTEC) Gerhard Drolshagen, ESA (ESTEC) Zoran Sodnic, ESA (ESTEC) David Dunham, KinetX Co., USA Ravil Nazirov, Space Research Institute (IKI) of RAS Vladimir Kurt, Astro Space Center, Physical Institute of RAS Natan Eismont, Space Research Institute (IKI) of RAS Contact Information Program Committee can be contacted by email at: nea2009@cosmos.ru Symposium website is: nea2009.cosmos.ru Accomodation For hotel booking, you may use online booking systems such as www.booking.com or www.hrs.com.