NASA and Planetary Resources Sign Agreement to Crowdsource Asteroid Detection

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Source: NASA

NASA and Planetary Resources Inc., of Bellevue, Wash., are partnering to develop crowd-sourced software solutions to enhance detection of near-Earth objects using agency-funded data. The agreement is NASA's first partnership associated with the agency's Asteroid Grand Challenge.

Under a non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement, Planetary Resources will facilitate the use of NASA-funded sky survey data and help support the algorithm competition and review results. NASA will develop and manage the contests and explore use of the best solutions for enhancing existing survey programs. The first contest is expected to launch early in 2014 based on Planetary Resources' and Zooniverse's Asteroid Zoo platform currently in development. The partnership was announced Nov. 21 at NASA's Asteroid Initiative Ideas Synthesis Workshop in Houston.

"This partnership uses NASA resources in innovative ways and takes advantage of public expertise to improve identification of potential threats to our planet," said Lindley Johnson, program executive of NASA's near Earth object observation program. "This opportunity is one of many efforts we're undertaking as part of our asteroid initiative."

Through NASA's asteroid initiative, the agency is enhancing its ongoing efforts to identify and characterize near-Earth objects for scientific investigation, find asteroids potentially hazardous to Earth and find candidates viable for redirection to a stable orbit near the moon as a destination for exploration by astronauts.

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Read more: http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-and-planetary-resources-sign-agreement-to-crowdsource-asteroid-detection/index.html#.Uo6g-sSkpya

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1. Planetary Resources Partners with NASA to Crowdsource Asteroid Detection

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=41983

Planetary Resources Partners with NASA to Crowdsource Asteroid Detection
Press Release Source: Planetary Resources

Bellevue, Washington - November 21, 2013 -- Planetary Resources, Inc., the asteroid mining company, has signed a Space Act Agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to design and implement crowdsourcing algorithm challenges in the effort to detect, track and characterize near-Earth objects (NEOs). All data compiled and used for these challenges will be open-sourced and publicly available.

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The primary business of Planetary Resources is to prospect and mine asteroids with high concentrations of water and precious metals, and this economically driven activity will not only help identify prospective targets but also aid in learning more about our Solar System and protecting Earth from hazardous asteroids. "Our mission is to mine asteroids for precious resources, but we uniquely understand the crowd's interest to be actively involved in space exploration. And, we are always seeking new and innovative ways to increase our knowledge of NEOs, especially those that may be potentially hazardous," said Chris Lewicki, President and Chief Engineer, Planetary Resources, Inc.

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Today, there are approximately 620,000 asteroids that are tracked in our Solar System. This number represents less than one percent of the estimated objects that orbit the Sun. "While improving the algorithms to detect NEOs helps gain more data, additional surveys, telescopes and capability put to the search will also assist in completing the task of compiling a comprehensive open-sourced catalog," continued Lewicki.

With the understanding of the importance of public involvement, Planetary Resources recently completed a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for the ARKYD - the world's first crowdfunded space telescope. The company exceeded its original US$1 million goal and raised a total of $1,505,367 with more than 18,000 people from around the globe pledging their support for ARKYD. Over 17,000 people requested their very own #SpaceSelfie, another 2,100 donated time on the ARKYD to education and many others are looking to gain access to the ARKYD to explore the cosmos on their own!

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2. NSA should do this with the meta-data they're collecting

Put it all online, open-source, and have a contest for best algorithms for identifying terrorists.