2024 Workshop: Meteoroids and Space Debris
Julio Urbina
Nicholas Holl
As meteoroids enter the Earth’s atmosphere, their kinetic energy converts into intense heat, generating a blazing plasma enveloping their form. These plasmas, commonly referred to as meteors, have captivated scientific inquiry for well over a century, yet numerous enigmas persist. Concurrently, the proliferation of space debris—also denoted as orbital debris, space junk, or space waste—comprises defunct human-made objects encircling Earth devoid of utility. These synthetic meteors and debris, alongside their celestial counterparts, pose enduring hazards to satellite infrastructure, augmenting the influx of macroscopic particles into Earth's atmospheric. 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. Emphasis is placed on presentations exploring engineering methodologies for observing and characterizing the meteoroid and debris populace, encompassing various observational techniques such as lidar, radar, satellite, and optical methods, as well as modeling approaches. We also welcome presentations that use emerging AI and machine learning techniques to study all types of meteor echoes and space debris.
These plasmas, commonly referred to as meteors, have been studied for well over a century, yet many outstanding questions remain. Additionally, space debris, also known as orbital debris, space junk, and space waste, constitutes the collection of objects orbiting Earth that were created by humans but no longer serve any useful purpose. These artificial meteors/debris and meteoroids of astronomical origin pose a long-standing threat to satellites, contributing to the influx of macroscopic particles into Earth's atmosphere. Several recent networks of multi-static meteor radars, regional radar systems, and optical instruments have recently received funding. Moreover, there are ongoing efforts worldwide to develop lower-cost radar systems, which can facilitate new research and discovery, thereby broadening the participation of underrepresented communities. Furthermore, the utilization of AI and machine learning to conduct meteor and space debris research can open new frontiers in space science research.