The Mexican Meteor Network: A Preliminary Proposal

Abstract

The study of asteroidal and cometary material entering into Earth’s atmosphere has scientific and social importance. The observation and study of the impact of meteoroids with our planet is a way of studying geophysics and planetary geology without spaceships. This article describes the progress of the installation of the Mexican Meteor Network (Citlalin Tlamina). At medium and long term, the aim of this network is to cover the entire national territory with stations that allow us to record the entry of meteoroids into Earth’s atmosphere. This seeks to: a) study the meteoroid-atmosphere interaction, b) determine impactor’s physical properties; c) analyze flows and Radiant deviations of known meteor showers, d) find or ratify new meteor showers; e) recover and study meteorites, f) study the interaction of the shock wave with the ground by analyzing seismograms; g) report people in real time (or near) the occurrence of fireballs and fragmentation of meteoroids in the atmosphere, avoiding the fear of this phenomenon and provide support for Civil Protection, h) find areas of opportunity that can use the images captured by the cameras (weather, bird migration, etc.). In this paper, it is shown the prototype of the base to house the cameras whose purpose is to protect them from the environment, prevent condensation within the container and keep the cameras below 25 °C.