/sci/ - Science & Math

Is planetary defense covered in the non nuclear proliferation treaty?

How would the US convince the UN that building planetary defense missiles would be a good investment (for shooting down incoming asteroids, or any other threat that may manifest from deep space)?

Contrary to what's depicted in Hollywood, current ICBM's cannot hit targets in deep space. A planetary defense missile must be able to be quickly mobilized to intercept targets either inside or outside the Earth's hill sphere. It must be able to sit unused and largely unmaintained for decades (it most likely will never be used), then quickly be activated and mobilized with mere days or even hours notice of an incoming bogey. This demands the use of hypergolic fuels, which NASA treats as taboo for usage in rocket core stages, but enjoys widespread use in russia.

Simply stated, the function of a planetary defense missile is to quickly deploy one or more nuclear warheads to incoming threats from deep space, in whatever form they may manifest. This may be the only sanctioned use of nuclear explosives that the public could accept.