Irmgard Marboe is Professor of International Law at the University of Vienna, Austria. She has widely published on international space law and acted as expert in various functions in the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS).

Impacts by asteroids or comets on Earth may lead to natural disasters of catastrophic dimensions. This book addresses legal and policy aspects of 'planetary defence' activities by space agencies and other actors aiming at the prediction and mitigation of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).