The White House and NASA are asking the public for help finding asteroids that potentially could slam into the Earth with catastrophic consequences.
Citing planetary defense, the administration has decided that the search for killer rocks in space should be the latest in a series of "Grand Challenges," in which the government sets an ambitious goal, helps create public-private partnerships and sometimes offers prize money for innovative ideas.
"This is really a call to action to find all asteroid threats to human populations and know what to do about them," NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said. She said the asteroid hunt would help prove that "we're smarter than the dinosaurs."