SUMMARY OF THE 26h MEETING OF THE SPACE MISSION PLANNING ADVISORY GROUP (SMPAG)

4-5 February 2026

in conjunction with the 63rd session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) 

Vienna International Centre (VIC), Room M6 and MS Teams

The 26th meeting of the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) took place on 4-5 February 2026, chaired by the European Space Agency (ESA), the current SMPAG Chair (2026-2027) and supported by the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) as the secretariat.

Adoption of the agenda and introduction of participants

The revised agenda was adopted. The following agencies and offices were represented at the meeting: ASI, CNES, CNSA, CSA, Czechia, DLR, ESA, FFG, JAXA, KASI, NASA, SUPARCO, and UKSA. The meeting was attended by observer for ISRO.

Representatives of COSPAR attended as observer organization. The meeting was also attended by the coordinator for IAWN, and the coordinators for the SMPAG Apophis Flight Missions Working Group and the Legal Working Group also attended the meeting.

1) SMPAG Status Report and General Items

SMPAG Chair, Detlef Koschny (on behalf of ESA) informed on the status of SMPAG membership (20 members, 7 observers), with application for membership by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

The Chair informed on the continuity of work on hypothetical asteroid impact exercise by SMPAG, intended to strengthen its capabilities. SMPAG used the simulated asteroid impact threat, which was developed by an international team within the framework of IAWN to contribute to the 2025 IAA Planetary Defense Conference, held in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in May 2025. SMPAG prepared recommendations on how to respond to the impact threat. A similar approach is proposed for the 2027 IAA PDC, to be held in Montreal, Canada, 3-7 May 2027. In addition, SMPAG is continuing its work on an international exercise, coordinated by the Italian Space Agency ASI. The presentation by SMPAG Chair is available here. The report by SMPAG Chair to the 63rd session of STSC is available here.

SMPAG documents and meeting minutes are available at http://smpag.net.

2)  Report by the IAWN Coordinator

IAWN Coordinator, Kelly Fast, informed on activities, membership and campaigns of IAWN in 2025. Around 30 new members have joined IAWN, bringing the number of official signatories to the IAWN Statement of Intent to 91, representing independent astronomers, observatories, and space institutions from 30 countries. The Coordinator presented latest information on asteroid “2024 YR4”. IAWN regularly holds observing campaigns to advance the capabilities of the Network. In 2025, this included a campaign on “2025 FA22” with a hypothetical hazard assessment. In a campaign completing in February 2026, IAWN developed capabilities for more accurate position measurements of comets, which members exercised on interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. IAWN will also coordinate observing campaigns of Apophis in 2027, 2028, and around the time of the asteroid’s historic close approach in 2029. The presentation by the IAWN Coordinator can be found here. IAWN statement to the STSC is available here.

IAWN webpage with relevant information is available at iawn.net

3)  Status reports from members and observers

The following SMPAG Members and observer organizations presented information on their planetary-defence missions and SMPAG-related activities: ASI, CNES, CSA, DLR, FFG, JAXA, KASI, NASA, UKSA, and COSPAR. Presentations submitted for publishing are available here.

4) SMPAG Membership

The SMPAG Chair informed that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) applied for membership with SMPAG. The Letter of Application by ISRO, dated 3 December 2025, was shared with the SMPAG Heads of Delegations in advance of the meeting. The ISRO representative, Dr Bulbul Mukherjee, presented ISRO activities related to SMPAG work.

Upon a request by one SMPAG member, the presentation of ISRO on their PD-related activities was shared with Heads of Delegations, with a view to allow for additional time.

Action: The SMPAG Chair appealed to the SMPAG Heads of Delegation for a swift decision on a matter and will follow up by end February 2026.

   

5) SMPAG Terms of Reference (TOR)

SMPAG discussed proposals for amending the TOR pertaining to Observer and Ad-hoc observer status; and further clarifying the composition of the SMPAG Steering Committee. The proposed text was shared in advance of the meeting with SMPAG Heads of delegations, as the Chair’s proposal. In addition, it was noted that the list of SMPAG Heads of Delegations should be circulated among SMPAG members and observer organizations.

Decision: SMPAG adopted the amended Terms of Reference, which now form version 3 (v.3 as at 4 February 2026) and will be made available on smpag.net.

6) SMPAG Working Groups: SMPAG Legal WG and SMPAG Apophis Flight Missions WG

6.1.) Report about activities of the SMPAG Legal  WG (Coordinator, A. Hadaji)

The Coordinator, Alissa Hadaji, presented the status of membership in the SMPAG Legal WG with latest new members nominated by ESA and NASA. The Coordinator also presented again potential PD-related legal questions that could be taken up by the WG related to multiple mission operations during close approach of asteroid Apophis in 2029. See also annex II of the Meeting Minutes.

Action: The SMPAG Legal Working Group will remain actively involved in the hypothetical exercise for the 2027 IAA PDC, particularly given that the venue at McGill provides a valuable opportunity to highlight a strong legal dimension of planetary defence at the Conference. The SMPAG Legal WG Coordinator will also be invited to participate in the SMPAG AFM-WG.

6.2.) Report on activities by SMPAG AFM-WG (Coordinator, G. Kminek),

The Coordinator, Gerhard Kminek presented the scope of work and membership of the SMPAG AFM-WG, in accordance with its ToR.

The Coordinator informed that there are currently representatives of 3 flight projects (DESTINY+, OSIRIS-APEX, RAMSES) members of the SMPAG AFM-WG, with CNSA expected to provide nominations and mission information. IAWN and UNOOSA are members ex-officio. Since its establishment, the SMPAG AFM-WG held 2 meetings (in December, and in January). All 3 flight projects have provided information on their planned mission and timelines. The main goal of exchange is to deconflict potential periods of multiple mission operations  and activities where unintended interference may otherwise occur. The SMPAG AFM-WG has so far also been given an extensive briefing by IAWN on planned ground-based radar observations, with a view to deconflict those with mission operations. The presentation is available here. See also annex III.

Action: The work of the SMPAG AFM-WG might extend beyond the Apophis close approach, if required. One angle that the WG could undertake is also on communication and outreach.

7) SMPAG Hypothetical Asteroid Impact Exercise (ASI)

Camilla Colombo, on behalf of ASI and in cooperation with the Politecnico di Milano presented the status of the SMPAG hypothetical asteroid impact exercise, which is now in the Sprint 3. It was noted that there are still pending inputs to report on Sprint 1.

Action: SMPAG agreed to kick-off monthly meetings, led by ASI, on the hypothetical exercise, Sprint 3. The dates will be coordinated with the secretariat, and further information shared with Heads of Delegations. SMPAG members who have not yet provided input to the Sprint 1 report are invited to submit their contributions, and the report will be updated accordingly.

8) Whitepaper on Rapid Response Capabilities for Asteroid Deflection (ASI)

Camilla Colombo, on behalf of ASI,  presented a proposal to develop a rapid-response capability for asteroid deflection within SMPAG. She outlined the proposal as a step-by-step roadmap identifying which capabilities could be employed, and by which space agencies, in the event that a rapid-response deflection demonstration is required, including a toolkit of how to build a rapid response mission. Such a roadmap would also support decision-makers in addressing a potential impact  hazard.

In the discussion, parallels were made with the existing Roadmap for planetary defence (Workplan item 5.7) and the on-going hypothetical exercise by SMPAG, led by ASI.

Action: SMPAG thanked ASI, acknowledging the value of the proposal and noted that it could be further explored once recommendations and lessons learned arising from the ongoing SMPAG hypothetical impact exercise, led by ASI, have been finalized. One of the outcomes could also be establishment of a dedicated SMPAG working group for rapid response missions.

9) SMPAG Work plan items

Action: NASA informed the Group that the current Roadmap for planetary defense (version 4, as of March 2023), a living document, will be updated. Kelly Fast will join Alan Harris in revising and updating NASA’s contribution.

10) International Year of Asteroid Awareness and Planetary Defence 2029

SMPAG members and observers exchanged information on plans in support of the 2029 IYAPD. R. Kofler informed that UNOOSA, as per GA resolution, serves as a facilitator for the Year, and that this work is based on voluntary contributions. Monthly meetings are being held in preparation for the Year, with a variety of stakeholders, such as space agencies representatives, IAU, Asteroid Foundation, COSPAR  and others. ASI nominated a representative to those meetings; CSA expressed intention to take part and asked for a one pager with an outline of IYAPD goals; DLR proposed a “name an asteroid campaign”, in collaborations with IAU; JAXA presented their planned activities by engaging national observatories and the Japan Space Guard Association; NASA informed on their engagement in the monthly planning group through science&communications branch; SUPARCO stressed the importance of citizen’s science for the IYAPD2029; COSPAR informed on readiness to engage with science educational materials, also in cooperation with UNOOSA; engage SGAC. A dedicated UN webpage is available here.

Action: The exchange of information about activities in the lead-up to IYAPD2029/Asteroids2029 will be regularly discussed at SMPAG meetings. SMPAG members and observers are encouraged to share activities for the Year and join the monthly coordinating meetings/identify focal points as well as consider providing seed funding for secretariat/coordinator of the International Year.

11) 2027 IAA Planetary Defense Conference, 3-7 May 2027, Montreal, Canada, hosted by McGill University.

The representatives of the PDC Chairs and the Local Organizing Committee (McGill University) briefed SMPAG on the status of preparations for the 2027 IAA PDC. Monthly meetings of the International Organizing Committee will be held every 3rd Wednesday of the month, starting February at 16:00 UTC. The Conference will be organized as single-track conference; there will be a separate team working on the hypothetical asteroid impact exercise for the conference, taking into account the roles of IAWN and SMPAG, the scenario is planned to kick-off in August 2026. Dedicated panels on legal aspects with strong involvement of the host (McGill Uni) and disaster preparedness (with engagement of UN-SPIDER) are proposed as part of the conference, among others.

12) AOB & Next meeting:

  • Next meeting (27th SMPAG): ASI offered to host the 27th meeting of SMPAG in Milano, Italy, 14-15 October 2026.

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Annex I

Status of Workplan items

Item 5.1. – Completed and applied.

5.1 Criteria and thresholds for impact response actions (NASA): Completed. Final report SMPAG-RP-003, v 1.0 (Oct 2018)

Items 5.2., 5.3.,5.4., 5.5. – these items are complemented by the on-going SMPAG hypothetical asteroid impact exercises:

5.2 Mitigation mission types and technologies to be considered (UKSA): No update.

5.3 Mapping of threat scenarios to mission types (ESA): In progress (a dedicated person for this task is expected to be on-board soon to take up the task).

5.4 Reference missions for different NEO threat scenarios (ASI): ASI presented the case of the 2023 PDC hypothetical impact exercise, as reference mission, with the aim to possibly automatize the procedures and calculations.

5.5 A plan for action in case of a credible threat (NASA/ESA): An update will be done after the SMPAG exercise is completed, to take stock of the exercise. The draft report is available here.

Action: A shared drive is available, provided by ESA (similarly to IADC’s Space Debris Exercise) for sharing of data and harmonized templates.

5.6 Communication guidelines in case of a credible threat (NASA): If real preparations for a planetary defence mission start, special communication guidelines might be required. As communication is mainly addressed by IAWN, this activity could be combined with an IAWN activity on communication.

Action: by the IAWN Steering Committee – possibly a dedicated communications workshop. Update will be done after SMPAG exercise is completed, to take stock of the exercise.

5.7 Produce a roadmap for future work on planetary defence (DLR): This is a living document - SMPAG-RP-001, v. 4.0, 2 March 2023

Action: Call for comments and participation in work: SMPAG members are invited to look at the conclusions of v.4 and provide comments.  Any interested member is invited to join Alan Harris (DLR) in continuing this work since his counterpart (L. Johnson) retired.

5.8 Consequences, including failure, of NEO mitigation space missions (ESA/FFG):

Action: Draft report is being reviewed by FFG and will be submitted to SMPAG Chair.

5.9. Criteria for deflection targeting (ROSA): ROSA previously provided one-page updates that will be shared with SMPAG Chair for further action.

5.10 Study of the nuclear device option: A compilation of existing literature that addresses issues related to NEO mitigation using a nuclear device is ongoing. SMPAG members are invited to provide additional references (publication references and abstracts/summaries) and a text for an introduction and background information. Action: SMPAG Chair to take the lead, also in cooperation with SMPAG Legal WG.

5.11 Toolbox for a characterisation payload (CNES):  the preliminary table of existing instruments has been made available here. It was noted that Apophis mission proposals are also relevant for this Toolkit.

Action: Secretariat to invite SMPAG members to continue to provide updates to the NEO Toolkit.

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Annex II: SMPAG Legal Working Group

A. The legal questions confirmed by SMPAG for the LWG’s upcoming work:

1. To what extent do existing legal precedents or frameworks provide guidance on simultaneous missions to the same asteroid? Are there legal lessons learned from DART & HERA? Could a State argue for priority in orbital operations?

2. How is “harmful interference” understood in this context?

3. If one mission were to negatively impact another’s scientific objectives (without physical damage), would this fall under liability, harmful interference, or neither? What standards of “due regard” apply?

B.  Call for nominations

The space agencies without an appointed member to SMPAG LWG are invited to consider nominating a representative: AEE (Spain); CSA (Canada); CNSA (China); ISA (Israel); JAXA (Japan); KASI (Republic of Korea); ROSA (Romania), Roscosmos (Russian Federation); SSAU (Ukraine); SUPARCO (Pakistan).

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ANNEX III

SMPAG Apophis Flight Missions Working Group (SMPAG AFM-WG)

Topics:

  1. Assess potential interference of ground-based observations with flight missions (and vice-versa).
  2. Assess potential interference of communication architectures (S/C to S/C and S/C to ground).
  3. Assess potential opportunities/interference of flight missions’ proximity operations (e.g., radio science).
  4. Discuss mission data exchange and data archiving plans (flight and ground).
  5. Discuss opportunities for coordinated messaging and communicating to the public.

Timeline:

  • KO meeting (virtual) in Nov. 2025; topic 1 (presentation of ground-based observations plans).
  • 2nd meeting in January – Flight projects present information
  • 1st reporting to SMPAG at UN-COPUOS STSC, Feb. 2026.
  • 3rd meeting, February 2026
  • Finishing content until summer 2026 and presenting at COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Scientific Sub-Commission B1 (1-9 August 2026, Florence, Italy).
  • Presenting the report to the 27th SMPAG meeting in the fall of 2026.