Avoid disaster from asteroids thanks to AI

Scientists are training computers to help humanity stop these.

Simulate the asteroid / meteor disaster caused by Earth.(Photo: Donald Davis / NASA).

Many defense experts have proposed three main options to repel the disaster from this 'potential' assassin: using nuclear weapons, throwing another object into, or thanks to the gravity of a ship. the universe sucked it away . However, not all asteroids are the same size, so a method can only show efficiency depending on the asteroid's size, velocity and distance.

'Obviously we do not have the money or the time to develop and test all methods , ' said Erika Nesvold, an astronomer who worked at the Carnegie Science Institute in Washington DC (USA, says in the lecture). presented at a conference organized by the American Astronomical Society in National Harbor, Maryland). 'So we want to know how we can determine if these options can be effective , ' she said.

As part of the Deflector Selector project , Nesvold and her team simulated a simulation of more than 18 million attempts to save the earth from asteroids disaster. They then used a part of the simulation results to train the computer to determine the best option before the hazards, the rest of the results were used for later testing. After training, the computer can make recommendations after only a few minutes, compared to taking several days to perform detailed simulation work. The recommendations of the machine proved quite consistent with the simulation results, at a rate of about 90%.