NASA unveils new weapon in war on asteroids: An Earth-loving algorithm


It’s been 66 million long years since an asteroid erased the dinosaurs — and astronomers are getting antsy.

In the last few months, they’ve warned that space rocks as big as the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, and the Great Pyramid of Giza could all miss Earth by just millions of miles.

In response, NASA is resorting to increasingly desperate measures. After simulating catastrophe impacts and slapping asteroids with spaceships, the agency on Monday unveiled its most outlandish weapon yet: an algorithm.

Named Sentry-II, the system will evaluate the threats posed by near-Earth asteroids (NEAs).

In a press release, NASA said the system can rapidly assess potential impacts for all known NEAs — with odds as low as a few chances in 10 million.