AI is identifying Earth-killer asteroids before they become a problem

A new artificial intelligence algorithm has detected, for the first time ever, a killer asteroid slated to fly by Earth — and it won't be the last. Known as HelioLinc3D, the algorithm — created specifically for the still-under-construction Vera Rubin Observatory in Northern Chile — has already identified one "potentially hazardous asteroid" or PHA that human eyes had missed, The roughly 600-foot-long PHA is going to approach Earth within 140,000 miles, which is about half the distance to the Moon (i.e. a little too close for comfort).