With smart camera network, NASA tracks lights in the night sky
NASA is deploying a network of smart cameras across the United States to better understand where the meteoroids that enter the Earth's atmosphere each day come from.
About 100 tons of the stuff -- mostly fragments of dust and gravel, but sometimes big rocks -- enters the Earth's atmosphere each day.
Groups of smart cameras in NASA's new meteor network triangulate the paths of the pieces of debris. Software then computes their orbits based on data collected by the cameras.
Other U.S. meteor networks exist, but the key distinction of NASA's new one is that it's automated: no one has to manually look at all the cameras' data and calculate the orbits anymore.
The All-Sky Fireball Network is currently comprised of three cameras, each about the size of a gumball machine (see photo at right). The plan is to expand to 15 devices east of the Mississippi River, then nationwide.
According to William Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, the network will allow the agency to have a record of every large meteroid that enters the atmosphere over certain parts of the U.S. -- and know where it will make impact.
It also allows him to collect data on meteor speed as a function of size, which helps NASA calibrate models used to design spacecraft.
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com