Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




DEEP IMPACT
Monitoring Meteor Showers from Space
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 15, 2014


A Perseid meteor streaks through the Earth's atmosphere, as seen and photographed by astronaut Ron Garan while aboard the International Space Station on August 13, 2011. Image courtesy NASA.

Those who enjoy the spectacle of the Perseids, Geminids or other annual meteor showers likely aren't thinking about where these shooting stars originated or whether they might pose a danger. Scientists, however, think about such things and will use the vantage point of a special window on the International Space Station to learn more about the composition and behavior of meteors and their parent bodies.

The Meteor investigation will help scientists better understand the asteroids and comets crossing Earth's orbit and how these celestial objects have affected our planet. It also could help protect spacecraft and Earth from potential collisions with this celestial debris.

The investigation, which will launch to the station on Orbital Sciences' third commercial resupply flight, will spend two years recording meteor showers using a special camera installed in the station's Window Observational Research Facility (WORF). The camera is programmed to record predictable showers, and its continuous measurement of meteor interactions with Earth's atmosphere could spot unpredicted ones as well.

Space-based viewing of meteor showers offers many advantages over traditional observation by ground- or aircraft-based instruments. Viewing from the station is not affected by weather or interference from Earth's atmosphere.

Instruments on Earth are also limited to short periods of observation time and viewing field, but the camera aboard the station will record for roughly 560 minutes every day. That is the amount of time the station is in darkness as it orbits Earth 16 times a day.

Partners in the Meteor investigation include the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio and Japan's Planetary Exploration Research Center (PERC) at Chiba Institute of Technology.

Once installed, the Meteor system will operate mostly on its own. Michael Fortenberry, principal investigator for Meteor and an engineer with SwRI, explains that the crew will only need to adjust the lens focus and change out hard drives that store high-resolution video collected by the camera.

A software program will identify and separate video clips that likely include meteors, and those can be further analyzed later on the ground. Scientists can use these images to glean information such as the size of a particle of meteoric dust based on its flight path and light curve.

Going beyond identifying meteors and monitoring their activity, the instrument has the additional capability to help classify their chemical composition.

A device on the camera called a diffraction grating separates light passing through it into different wavelengths or colors, known as spectra, just as a prism does. The device will record spectra of light emitted for specific meteoroids, which investigators can use to determine the abundance of several elements in the meteoroids or meteor dust.

"From previous observation on the ground, we already know the parent body for these meteors," explains Meteor co-investigator Tomoko Arai, Ph.D., a staff scientist at PERC. "The spectral information will tell us more about these parent bodies and help us understand their materials."

The camera is scheduled to record all 12 known major showers. Secondary targets include minor meteor showers and periods with little or no identified regular activity. Observation of de-orbiting spacecraft and other targets also will be made. "There is a chance we could find new minor meteor showers, or observe meteors from an unexpected source like Comet Ison," says Fortenberry.

Meteors are created by the disintegration of comets or asteroids orbiting the sun. Those that enter Earth's atmosphere heat up and burn, causing the visible streak we see during a shower. Although the exact number of meteors entering the atmosphere varies during each event, some major showers can produce a peak of more than 100 visible meteors per hour.

Some meteor-producing bodies have the potential to create meteors so large that they do not burn up completely on their trip through Earth's atmosphere and actually strike the surface. This investigation will collect much more data than was previously possible about what already hits our planet.

This data will be correlated with information from other sensors and analysis to determine how many meteors are entering the atmosphere and their characteristics. Those characteristics will help scientists better understand which parent bodies might create meteors that pose a threat to Earth, along with their physical and chemical makeup. In addition, data on orbital debris, both natural and man-made, can be used to time and position spacecraft to keep them safe from collisions in space.

The WORF provides a stable platform for hand-held photography and other research activities at the U.S. Laboratory Science Window, the highest optical-quality window ever installed on a human space vehicle. The Window enables the use of high-resolution cameras from inside the station rather than outside, where instruments are subject to the vacuum and extreme temperatures of space.

The Meteor investigation adds to other monitoring of meteors on orbit, such as through Crew Earth Observations (CEO). So the next time you enjoy a meteor shower, rest easy knowing that these scientists are keeping an eye on things.

.


Related Links
ISS
Asteroid and Comet Impact Danger To Earth - News and Science






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








DEEP IMPACT
Perseid Meteors vs. the Supermoon
Washington DC (SPX) Jul 31, 2014
Every year, sky watchers and summertime campers circle on their calendars a few key August nights-the 11th, 12th and 13th. These are the dates of the annual Perseid meteor shower, which rarely fails to please those who see it. This year they're adding a note: "supermoon." During the second week of August, the biggest and brightest full Moon of the year will face off against everyone's favo ... read more


DEEP IMPACT
China to test recoverable moon orbiter

China to send orbiter to moon and back

August supermoon will be brightest this year

Manned Moon Mission to Cost Russia $2.8 Bln

DEEP IMPACT
Curiosity Mars Rover Prepares for Fourth Rock Drilling

Tall Boulder Rolls Down Martian Hill, Lands Upright

Opportunity Heads to 'Marathon Valley'

NASA Mars Curiosity Rover: Two Years and Counting on Red Planet

DEEP IMPACT
Yi So-yeon, Korea's first and only astronaut, resigns

XCOR Lynx Spacecraft Lands at Monterey Jet Center

Study Compiles Data on Problem of Sleep Deprivation in Astronauts

Aerojet Completes CST-100 Work for Commercial Crew Work

DEEP IMPACT
China's first private rocket firm aims for market

China Sends Remote-Sensing Satellite into Orbit

More Tasks for China's Moon Mission

China's Circumlunar Spacecraft Unmasked

DEEP IMPACT
ISS Spacewalkers Deploy Nanosatellite, Install and Retrieve Science

Orbital cargo ship makes planned re-entry to Earth

Russian Cosmonauts Carry Out Science-Oriented Spacewalk Outside ISS

The ISS just dumped 3,300 lbs of space trash to burn up in Earth's atmosphere

DEEP IMPACT
Aerojet Rocketdyne Supports Fifth Successful Launch in Six Weeks

Optus 10 delivered to French Guiana for Ariane 5 Sept launch

SpaceX to build world's first commercial rocket launch site in south Texas

Ariane 5 is readied for Arianespace's September launch with MEASAT-3b and Optus 10

DEEP IMPACT
Rotation of Planets Influences Habitability

Planet-like object may have spent its youth as hot as a star

Young binary star system may form planets with weird and wild orbits

Hubble Finds Three Surprisingly Dry Exoplanets

DEEP IMPACT
The Future of CubeSats

Lockheed taps GenDyn unit for Space Fence ground equipment structures

Canada's MDA receives radar antennas for satellite use

Disney develops method to capture stylized hair for 3-D-printed figurines




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.