MEO: Research Projects

Current Projects | Past Projects

Current Projects

The Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO) is involved in several research projects with institutions located throughout North America. The underlining goal of these projects is to gain a better understanding of the meteoroid environment so that MEO environment models can be improved.

NASA All Sky Fireball Network

A composite image showing several Eta Aquariid meteors from the NASA All Sky Fireball Network station in Mayhill, NM on 6 May 2013

The MEO operates multiple all-sky camera systems in the United States for the detection of bright meteors and fireballs. The systems, designed by collaborators at the University of Western Ontario, are designed to measure meteor speeds and orbits.

The goals of this project include determining the velocity distributions for bright meteors as a function of mass and measuring the meteor shower activity in this mass range. The MEO is continually expanding the fireball network in order to gather more data and provide Space Situational Awareness.

Co-Located Automated Meteor Station and Cooperative Agreement with UWO

The MEO is working together in cooperation with the University of Western Ontario (UWO) in order to remove biases in the meteor data. This will be done by co-locating automated meteor station cameras and the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR), enabling simultaneous radar and optical observations. The properties of those meteors seen by both instruments will be determined.

UWO also provides daily meteoroid flux measurements to the MEO during Space Shuttle missions.