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Colliding Worlds

Asteroid Research and the Legitimization of War in Space

Felicity Mellor

Science Communication Group, Imperial College, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK, f.mellor{at}imperial.ac.uk

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.

Key Words: asteroid impacts • astronomy • defence science • military • narrative • SDI • science fiction

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Social Studies of Science, Vol. 37, No. 4, 499-531 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0306312706075336
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