[FPSPACE] Colliding Worlds: Asteroid Research and the Legitimization of War in Space

[LARRY KLAES]

Colliding Worlds: Asteroid Research and the Legitimization of War in Space

Social Studies of Science 2007; 37; 499

DOI: 10.1177/0306312706075336

Felicity Mellor

ABSTRACT Over the past 20 years a small group of astronomers and planetary
scientists has actively promoted the idea that an asteroid might collide 
with the Earth
and destroy civilization. Despite concerns about placing weapons in space, 
the
asteroid scientists repeatedly met with scientists from the Strategic 
Defense Initiative
to discuss mitigation technologies.

This paper examines the narrative context in which asteroids were 
constructed as a
threat and astronomy was reconfigured as an interventionist science. I argue 
that
conceptualizing asteroids through narratives of technological salvation 
invoked a
‘narrative imperative’ that drew the astronomers towards the militaristic 
endings
that their stories demanded. Impact-threat science thus demonstrates both 
the
ways in which scientific research can be framed by fictional narratives and 
the
ideological ends that such narratives can serve.

Full article here:

http://sss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/37/4/499