The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and asteroid-mining company, Planetary Resources, have offered a $35,000 reward to those who will spot dangerous asteroids with the use of newly-developed algorithms.
"Protecting the planet from the threat of asteroid impact means first knowing where they are," said Jenn Gustetic, NASA Prizes and Challenges Program executive, in a statement to Space.com. "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 contest series, called "Asteroid Data Hunter," contributes to the federal agency's Asteroid Grand Challenge, an effort announced in 2013 that aims to find all potentially dangerous space rocks and fathom how to prevent them from inflicting harm on people here on Earth. It could also help the humanity's expansion out into the solar system.
In the contest, which will commence on March 17 and end on August, citizen scientists are asked to create a new and better algorithm that would locate space rocks in images taken by ground-based telescopes.
Contestants with solutions that work with all computer systems, increased detection sensitivity and less detection of false positives, will take home a total of $35,000 in awards.
"Current asteroid detection initiatives are only tracking one percent of the estimated objects that orbit the sun," said Chris Lewicki, president and chief engineer of the Planetary Resources, in a statement to Space.com. "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."
According to NASA's press release, the federal agency hopes that the contest will help them find ways to improve its continuing efforts in the identification and classification of outer space objects close to the Earth for future scientific investigation. They also expect to expand efforts beyond the usual boundaries and promote partnerships with different organizations.
