NASA Asteroid 'Grand Challenge' Asks For Civilian Help In Asteroid Hunt

NASA is seeking help in a "Grand Challenge" to hunt down asteroids. NASA wants backyard astronomers to lend a helping hand to fight asteroids.

NASA and the White House announced a Grand Challenge on Tuesday, calling for civilians to spot asteroids - and to figure out what to do about them. The challenge will be a multi-disciplinary collaboration with academia, governmental agencies, international partners, and "civilian scientists."

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver clarified that the Grand Challenge should enhance, not replace, the work NASA is already doing.

"NASA already is working to find asteroids that might be a threat to our planet, and while we have found 95 percent of the large asteroids near the Earth's orbit, we need to find all those that might be a threat to Earth," she told press.

The Obama Administration developed the initiative. It is the latest in a series of Grand Challenges that attempt to crowd-source innovative solutions for societal and economic issues and increase public attention.

"I applaud NASA for issuing this Grand Challenge because finding asteroid threats, and having a plan for dealing with them, needs to be an all-hands-on-deck effort," Tom Kalil, deputy director for technology and innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in a press release.

NASA, which has been cash-strapped, has increasingly been relying on outside help to further space exploration. They have lost funding for outreach programs and ended U.S. based space shuttle launches. Instead, privately owned SpaceX Dragon shuttles take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station.

NASA invites civilian partners to assist in asteroid spotting and lend ideas. Responses will be open for 30 days.