As populations grow people are more likely to die from asteroids as they are in plane crashes, so Microsoft, Nokia and NASA are teaming up to use data, devices and citizens to solve the problem, explains JC Oliver.

The challenge that we have now is that asteroids are going to kill us, says JC Oliver, global head of innovation at Microsoft.

As populations grow people are more likely to die from asteroids as they are in plane crashes, so Microsoft, Nokia and NASA are teaming up to use data, devices and citizens to solve the problem.

Speaking at the Festival of Media Global in Rome, Oliver discussed how we can leverage the technology we have available to save mankind.

“What’s interesting about Hollywood is the 1998 movie ‘Enemy of the State’. The tech they use in that movie is pretty real now,” said Oliver.

“Hollywood always tends to be 20 years ahead. Fiction tends to be more accurate about predicting the future than non-fiction, because you have to be imaginative.”

Discussing how Microsoft is opening up this technology and making it usable on a worldwide level, Oliver said that the problem is that tech is “not sexy” and we have to create a story around what’s essentially a “boring piece of tech”.

“We need to put humans at the centre of our tech thinking,” said Oliver.

NASA called up Microsoft and explained the asteroid problem -– that by 2020 you’’re more likely to get hit by an asteroid than die in a plane crash.

Citing the Chelyabinsk meteor crash that stormed the headlines in 2013, Oliver said this happens a lot more often than we care to realise. The problem gets more significant as metropolitan areas grow and the likelihood of asteroids landing in more inhabited areas is getting higher.

“We need to understand what are the big challenges that pose as risks to mankind. How can we get citizens around the world to work together on this problem? Unless you’re aware of it you won’t want to do anything.”

So Microsoft became a key in solving this challenge and decided that they needed to find a way to put the right tech across the world to aggregate what we see in the skies and then send it back to NASA.

“We all know that a mobile has more power in it than the technology that was used to put the first man on the moon. Everyone has a phone.”

Microsoft came up with a 3D printed mini observatory that could be sent out as a package all over the world for people to print themselves.

The information aggregated was then collected in the product cloud and sent back to NASA.

“It’s a step towards transforming citizens into science,” said Oliver.

“Real people with authentic stories aligns with what Microsoft wants to achieve. We all have the power in our hands – all you need to do is download and print the app.”