How AI Can Discover New Asteroids Circling the Earth

Artificial intelligence (AI) has so far uncovered over 27,000 new celestial objects cruising around our Solar System.

Given that the number of cataloged pieces of asteroids now exceeds 1.3 million, there is a constant impetus to identify and track these threats to Earth from outer space.

While it is reassuring that AI algorithms like THOR and HelioLinc3D have accelerated asteroid detection at an unprecedented scale, minimizing the chances of an unexpected impact, studies are still trying to work out if AI can accurately track the orbit of every celestial object — or at least as many as possible.

Techopedia uncovers AI’s role in asteroid identification and delves into how NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) missions such as DART and Hera can defend Earth against catastrophic impacts.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. AI's Role in Asteroid Discovery
3. The Growing Asteroid Catalog and Its Implications
4. The Challenges of Tracking and Deflecting Asteroids
5. The Bottom Line
6. FAQs
7. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. AI's Role in Asteroid Discovery
3. The Growing Asteroid Catalog and Its Implications
Show Full Guide
4. The Challenges of Tracking and Deflecting Asteroids
5. The Bottom Line
6. FAQs
7. References

AI’s Role in Asteroid Discovery

At 1.3 million asteroids and counting, some traveling over 55,000 mph, AI has increasingly become charged with formally identifying and then tracking this vast array of cosmic debris.

The AI-discovered asteroids aid in both Earth-based and space-telescope observations, such as the 138 new asteroids discovered by the James Webb telescope in December 2024 ranging from the size of a bus to the size of a stadium.

As with each discovery, our understanding of asteroid threats deepens.

These underlying concerns have led to a surge in the development of advanced algorithms capable of processing vast swaths of fluid data tracking asteroid trajectories and collisions as they fly through space.

An example of this technology is THOR (Tracklet-less Heliocentric Orbit Recovery), whose algorithm connects light points across multiple images, identifying moving objects like asteroids in archival telescope images that were not initially intended for this purpose.

In just five weeks, THOR was able to identify over 27,000 new asteroids from more than 400,000 archived images – a task that in the pre-AI era would have taken years, if not decades.

By analyzing these massive cosmic datasets at lightning-quick speeds, AI is not only uncovering previously overlooked asteroids, but the resulting number escalation is also changing how scientists approach asteroid research, bringing potential threats into clearer view.

The Growing Asteroid Catalog and Its Implications

 Notwithstanding the bad news of AI’s recent additions of known asteroids in the Asteroid Belt – there is an upside to this recent discovery.

Not least because it adds significant data and information to help in a number of space-related endeavors, including gaining a better understanding of:

Yet, among AI’s recent trove of new asteroid discoveries, approximately 150 asteroids were identified as near-Earth objects, raising concerns about their potential hazard.

While none of these pose an immediate threat to Earth, their proximity underscores the importance of mitigating future threats and collisions.

The growing directory of these potentially dangerous celestial objects has led to designated missions by both NASA and ESA to develop and refine asteroid destruction or deflection strategies for any impending impacts.

The Challenges of Tracking and Deflecting Asteroids

Despite asteroid-hunting AI’s recent success in detection rates, it’s safe to say that tracking each and every asteroid remains AI’s greatest challenge.

The sheer number of these interplanetary objects, combined with their varying sizes, orbits, and trajectory-changing collisions, makes it difficult for machine learning (ML) algorithms to maintain real-time surveillance.

However, beyond the need for constant monitoring, the ultimate hurdle is what action to take when AI flags an impending collision.

One such example is NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which successfully impacted asteroid Dimorphos in 2022 and demonstrated that asteroid deflection using kinetic impact is possible.

Here, DART was able to alter Dimorphos’s orbit by 32 minutes, which offers a proof of concept for future planetary defense strategies.

However, NASA has warned that more research is needed to better understand how different asteroids with alternative compositions will respond to similar impacts.

In response to DART’s success, the European Space Agency recently launched Hera in October 2024, designed to study Dimorphos in greater detail.

ESA’s plan for Hera will be to observe the long-term effects of DART’s impact, providing valuable data that will help refine deflection techniques and prepare for potential future threats.

While kinetic impact appears to be the preferred method of prevention, other proposals remain on the table, such as gravitational tractors, which slowly alter an asteroid’s trajectory over time, or nuclear weapons for more impending threats.

The Bottom Line

AI platforms such as THOR and HelioLinc3D take us to the next level in enabling us to detect and catalog these celestial bodies hurtling in and out of our Solar System’s asteroid belt.

The next step is to train AI to significantly enhance our ability to identify asteroids projected to intercept Earth’s orbit by providing a safeguard for an early warning system.

In a change to the usual narrative about the ethical dilemmas of using artificial intelligence, the sheer scale of the task at hand and the potential consequences of undetected asteroid threats means even the staunchest AI critic would likely withhold any objections.

We have a long way to go to ensure Earth’s safety from asteroid collisions, but AI’s welcome inclusion in identifying and tracking asteroids could prove vital in ensuring our longer-term safety living in the cosmos.

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