2023 Workshop: Meteoroids and Space Debris
Yanlin Li
Julio Urbina
As meteoroids enter the Earth’s atmosphere, their momentum turns into heat, generating high-temperature plasma surrounding their body. These plasmas, referred to as meteors, have been studied for well over a century, yet many outstanding questions remain. In addition, space debris, also known as orbital debris, space junk, and space waste, is the collection of objects in orbit around Earth that were created by humans but no longer serve any useful purpose. These artificial meteors/Debris and meteoroids of astronomic origin are a long-standing threat to satellites, and both contribute to the flux of macroscopic particles into Earth's atmosphere. To address the outstanding questions currently under investigation in the field of meteor, meteoroid and debris science and engineering, we invite presentations on the physics of meteoroid and debris particles and their impacts effects on the atmosphere, ionosphere, and satellites. We encourage presentations that address the engineering techniques for observing and characterizing the meteoroid and debris population, including any observational (i.e. lidar, radar, satellite and optical) or modeling methods. We also welcome presentations that use AI and machine learning techniques to study all types of meteor echoes and space debris.
10-10:05 LT Welcome, Introductions, Overview of Session, and Motivation, Including Some Announcements
Sigrid Close1, Yanlin Li2, and Julio Urbina2
1Stanford University
2The Pennsylvania State University
10:06- 10:25 LT Evolution of meteors from picoseconds to minutes and the observational Consequences (17 min talk + Q&A and discussion)
Meers Oppenheim1
1Boston University
10:26 - 10:40 LT Plasma Waves generated by Space Debris (12 min talk + Q&A and discussion)
Paul A. Bernhardt1, Lauchie Scott2, Andrew Howarth3, and Eliana Nossa4
1Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks AK, USA,
2DRDC Ottawa Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada,
3University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada,
4Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA, USA
10:41- 10:55 LT A Novel Methodology to Estimate Pre-atmospheric Dynamical Conditions of
Small Meteoroids (12 min talk + Q&A and discussion)
E.C.M. Dawkins,1,2, G. Stober3, J.D. Carrillo-Sanchez1,2, D. Janches1,2, R. Weryk4, J.L. Hormaechea5,6, J.S. Bruzzone7, and J.M.C. Plane8.
1ITM Physics Laboratory, NASA/Goddard Space 5 Flight Center, Code 675, 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt MD 20771, USA
2Department of Physics, Catholic University of America, 620 Michigan Ave., N.E. Washington, DC 20064, USA
3Institute of Applied Physics & Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research, Microwave Physics, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
4Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
5Facultad de Ciencias Astronomicas y Geofisicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina
6Estacion Astronomica Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
7Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica, Igua 4225 Montevideo, Uruguay
8School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Leeds, U.K.
10:56 - 11:10 LT Orbital Debris, Space Domain Awareness and Space Traffic Management: Research and Operational Needs (12 min talk + Q&A and discussion)
Reinhard Friedel1, Jesse Woodroffe1, J.-C. Liou2, Lauri Newman1, Matt Hejduck3, Jim Spann1, and Paul Bernhardt4
1NASA Headquarters,
2Johnson Space Center,
3The Aerospace Corporation,
4University of Alaska Fairbank
11:11 – 11:25 LT Radar, Radio and Optical Observations of Long-duration Meteors Over Northern Germany (12 min talk + Q&A and discussion)
J. L. Chau1, M. Clahsen1, O. Wucknitz1, K. S. Obenberger1, T. D. Carozzi1, M. Pozoga1, C. Vocks1, J. Künsemöller1, M. Höft1, and G. Baumgarten1
1Leibniz Institute for Atmospheric Physics
11:26 – 11:36 LT Patterns of the Meteor Head-echoes Observed by the Jicamarca High-Power Large-Aperature Radar (10 min talk + Q&A and discussion)
Yanlin Li1, Freddy Galindo1, Julio Urbina1, Qihou Zhou2, Tai-Yin Huang1,3
1The Pennsylvania State University
2Miami University
3National Science Foundation
11:37 – 11:48 LT Puerto Rican Initiative for Studies using Meteor Radar (PRISMA): An Overview and Preliminary Results (10 min talk + Q&A and discussion)
Pedrina Terra1, Christiano Brum1, Julio Urbina2, and Flaviane Venditti1
1University of Central Florida
2The Pennsylvania State University
11:49 – 11:59 LT Meteoric Thermosphere-Ionosphere Metal (TIMt) Layers Observed by Lidars in Antarctica and from Midlatitudes: Intermittency vs. Regularity (10 min talk + Q&A and discussion)
Xinzhao Chu1, Zhibin Yu2, and Yingfei Chen1
1 University of Colorado Boulder
2 Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen
12:00 LT Adjourn
We are grateful for your participation and look forward to learning together during the upcoming workshop!
These plasmas, referred to as meteors, have been studied for well over a century, yet many outstanding questions remain. In addition, space debris, also known as orbital debris, space junk, and space waste, is the collection of objects in orbit around Earth that were created by humans but no longer serve any useful purpose. These artificial meteors/Debris and meteoroids of astronomic origin are a long-standing threat to satellites, and both contribute to the flux of macroscopic particles into Earth's atmosphere. Several recent network of multi-static meteor radars, a regional network of radar systems, and regional optical instruments have recently been funded. In addition, there are new efforts worldwide in developing lower cost radar systems that can enable new research and discovery, broadening the participation of underrepresented communities. Additionally, the utilization of AI and machine learning to conduct meteor and space debris research can open new frontiers or research in space science.