The Official UN/IAWN Planetary-Defense Document on 3I/ATLAS — What NASA and ESA Already Know.

Clearing the confusion with the complete United Nations publication.

In recent days, the global discussion around comet 3I/ATLAS has accelerated — and with it, an unexpected wave of confusion.

One question appears again and again across public comments, scientific forums, and news threads:

“Is this an official international planetary-defense exercise… or not?”

To remove any ambiguity, I am sharing here the entire, unedited, official United Nations / IAWN publication, exactly as it appears on the UN-affiliated website.

This document explicitly states that 3I/ATLAS is part of the 8th IAWN observing exercise, conducted within the global planetary-defense framework.

Official UN/IAWN Source Link

(Direct link — no interpretation, no summaries)

https://iawn.net/campaigns.shtml

Full Official UN/IAWN Document — As Published

IAWN Comet Astrometry Campaign — 3I/ATLAS

NOTE:

“While it poses no threat, comet 3I/ATLAS presents a great opportunity for the IAWN community to perform an observing exercise due to its prolonged observability from Earth and high interest to the scientific community.
This 3I/ATLAS campaign is the 8th IAWN observing exercise since 2017 — IAWN holds these exercises roughly once a year.
IAWN had been planning to do a Fall 2025 comet campaign since 2024 to exercise capabilities for measuring the position of comets, which pose additional astrometric challenges as they appear as fuzzy extended objects compared to point-like asteroids in a telescope’s field of view.”

Introduction:

As posted in M.P.E.C. 2025-U142:

Comets present unique challenges for accurate astrometric measurements and orbit predictions.
Cometary bodies are extended with morphological features (comae and tails) that can systematically pull centroid measurements off their central brightness peak, making trajectory estimation more complex.

The International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) announces a comet campaign from November 27, 2025 through January 27, 2026 to introduce methods for improving astrometry from comet observations.

The campaign targets comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1) to exercise the capability of the observing community to extract accurate astrometry.
A preparatory workshop was held before the campaign.

Registration:

Registration is closed (17:00 UTC, November 7, 2025).

3I/ATLAS Comet Astrometry Campaign — Key Dates:

Registration Deadline: Nov 7, 2025, 17:00 UTC
Comet Astrometry Workshop: Nov 10, 2025, 15:00 UTC
Kick-Off Email Notification: Nov 25, 2025
Observing Window Opens: Nov 27, 2025
Mid-Campaign Check-In: Dec 9, 2025, 15:00 UTC
Observing Window Closes: Jan 27, 2026
Close-Out Telecon: Feb 3, 2026, 15:00 UTC

What This Means:

This publication makes one thing unmistakably clear:

Yes — the 3I/ATLAS activity is a formal international planetary-defense exercise.

It is coordinated under the UN planetary-defense structure (IAWN + SMPAG + UNOOSA).
It follows a multi-year pattern of global preparedness drills.
And it arrives precisely when public interest — and scientific urgency — around 3I/ATLAS is at a peak.

Exercises like this strengthen global readiness, improve tracking methodologies, sharpen scientific coordination, and prepare the world for scenarios that might carry greater uncertainty.

Final Thought:

Planetary defense works best when information is transparent.
Publishing the full document allows scientists, journalists, policymakers, and the global public to read the facts directly and draw their own conclusions.

This is how global science should operate.

Author: Rafi Glick (רפי גליק)