NASA is looking for help from the general public in creating algorithms to identify asteroids that may be in orbits that could bring them into collision with the Earth.
The Asteroid Data Hunter Challenge is the first competition launched as part of NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge Series, and the organisation are looking for challengers to develop a “significantly improved algorithm to identify asteroids in images from ground-based telescopes”.
$35,000 (£21,000) is on offer to the winners of the competition over the next six month, whose algorithm will:
Increase the detection sensitivity, minimize the number of false positives, ignore imperfections in the data, and run effectively on all computers
The announcement of this competition to better map the asteroids that could be in a collision course with Earth comes after a previously undetected 20m asteroid crashed into Russia last year, injuring around 1,000 people.
In a statement Planetary Resources president and chief engineer Chris Lewicki said:
“Current asteroid detection initiatives are only tracking one percent of the estimated objects that orbit the Sun. We are excited to partner with NASA in this contest to help increase the quantity and knowledge about asteroids that are potential threats, human destinations, or resource rich. Applying distributed algorithm and coding skills to the extensive NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey data set will yield important insights into the state of the art in detecting asteroids.”
Prizes and Challenges Program executive Jenn Gustetic said:
“Protecting the planet from the threat of asteroid impact means first knowing where they are. By opening up the search for asteroids, we are harnessing the potential of innovators and makers and citizen scientists everywhere to help solve this global challenge.”
The challenge will launch on 17 March and continue for six months.
