METEORIX: a cubesat mission dedicated to the detection of meteors
Résumé
Here, we present a cubesat space mission dedicated to the
detection and characterization of meteors. The detection of
meteors brings information on the flux of meteoroids and space
debris in Earth environment and on the nature of the meteoroids
that come from two reservoirs: comets and asteroids [1]. Such
study brings information on the formation of the solar system.
Several methods have been developed from Earth ground
and airborne to detect meteors or space debris. However, the
advantage of a space mission dedicated to meteors observation
is to be able to probe a large volume of the Earth atmosphere and
to avoid weather constraints [2]. The primary objective is to assess
a robust statistics on meteoroids and space debris that enter into
the Earth atmosphere. At present, their fluxes and properties are
not yet determined accurately [3]. These estimates will allow to
quantify the delivery of extraterrestrial material on Earth, and
possible consequences on aeronomy (e.g. noctilucent clouds
and atomic layer). These estimations are also crucial to estimate
impact risks for artificial satellites during meteor showers. There
are several secondary objectives such as to bring information
on ablation, fragmentation, rotation processes by photometry variation; to determine the trajectory in connection with Earth-
ground network such as FRIPON network developed in France
in order to find the dynamical origin of the meteoroid; and to
detect other fainter luminous atmospheric. This cubesat is a 3U
developed by students from Sorbonne University and the project
is presently in phase B [4]. The launch would be scheduled in
four years. Support from CNES-JANUS, ESEP, and IDEX Sorbonne
Universités are acknowledged.
[1] Jenniskens, P., 2006, Meteor Showers and their Parent Comets.
Ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. [2] Bouquet A.,
Baratoux D., Vaubaillon J., et al. 2014, Simulation of the capabilities
of an orbiter for monitoring the entry of interplanetary matter
into the terrestrial atmosphere, Planetary and Space Science 103
(2014) 238-249 [3] Zolensky, M., Bland, P., Brown, P., and Halliday,
I. 2006, Meteorites and the Early Solar System II, 869 [4]Meteorix,
A student nanosatellite Project by UPMC - Sorbonne Universités,
Phase A review, MET_MGT_HO_0068_v1r1_11092017