France embarks on ambitious meteor-spotting project
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029890
Nature : To track meteors shooting across the sky, a system of some 100 cameras is being installed across France. Once complete, the Fireball Recovery and InterPlanetary Observation Network will be one of the largest in the world and the first to be fully automated. A central computer in Paris will collect data from the camera network and use the information to pinpoint, within a 1–10 km range, where a given meteor landed. An army of citizen scientists will then be enlisted to search for meteorites. Any bits that can be recovered could prove invaluable by providing insights into the history of the solar system. The data could also be used to help track asteroids that threaten Earth. Organizers say they hope to collect one tracked meteorite per year in France.
