Event · event
The Bennu Nudge
The Laurentian north, China and India push Bennu off its keyhole path.
Read more in The Missing Century
2120s · The Bennu Nudge: the asteroid Bennu may pass through a keyhole near Earth in 2135 that would set it up for an impact in 2182. In the middle of the Parasol Wars, the Laurentian north, China and India fly one joint mission that pushes Bennu a few centimetres a second off its path, and the keyhole is missed. It is the first thing all three do together, and every later planetary-defence body cites it · Bennu's predicted pass of 2135 and small chance of impact in 2182; NASA's OSIRIS-REx sample from Bennu (2023); NASA's DART impact on Dimorphos (2022)
Carries the Rock Clause. Any move of a body over 1,000 tonnes (at 20 km/s, about 50 kilotons on impact) must be filed with the Watch before it begins, no body may be steered onto an orbit that could strike a planet or moon without the Watch's clearance, and moves near habitats are filed and logged. The Watch is the Accord's planetary-defence body, crewed by all six signatories, with a sky survey no member can switch off alone and shared deflection tugs, which can move rocks but enforce nothing; it descends, in spirit and in its oath, from the Bennu Nudge of the 2120s. The clause answers the Ceres Letter.