Meteor Research Group (MRG)

Within the Meteor Research Group of ESA, we perform research in the field of meteors and meteoroids. We operate a double-station video camera setup on the Canary Islands called CILBO. It has been collecting meteoroid orbits since 2012. We are using our own meteor orbit determination software, called MOTS, developed in 2002. The current version includes Monte Carlo modelling of the measurement errors, to obtain error estimates of the orbital elements. An additional camera with an objective grating allows us to obtain spectra, thus constraining the composition of the meteoroids.

We are in the process of expanding the French FRIPON network over the Netherlands. We are also working closely together with the NELIOTA team in Greece, analyzing lunar impact flashes, and study impact craters on the Columbus module of the International Space Station.

Our main science interests are meteoroid flux densities and their orbital parameters. We have developed elaborate de-biasing methods to analyse our CILBO data in that respect and are working on extending that to the FRIPON data. We are characterising the composition of meteoroids, and study lunar impact flashes.

If you want to work in our team, there are several posibilities - apply as an intern or Research Fellow. We work together with the University of Oldenburg and the Technical University of Munich, both in Germany, where we regulary offer Bachelor's, Master's or Ph.D. theses.

In addition to the two mentioned universities, we cooperate closely with the University of Stuttgart, Germany, the IMCCE and Obs. Paris, France, the Observatory of Athens, Greece, and the DLR Berlin, Germany. We are working closely together with the near-Earth object segment of ESA's Space Situational Awareness programme and the Space Environment Section of ESA's Technical Directorate.

See some highlights of our work below, or in the 'news archive' accessible via the menu on the left. Or check out directly some of our projects and our equipment via the menu on the left.

Enjoy browsing our pages - Detlef Koschny, Julia Marín-Yaseli de la Parra, Richard Moissl, Hakan Svedhem, Andrea Toni, Olivier Witasse, Joe Zender - Aug 2020.

Recent news

News_2019-03-04_CSS

3 March 2019 Together with a team from the Ernst-Mach Institut Freiburg, the Univ. Oldenburg, and NASA, our Meteor Research Group has surveyed the ram and zenith panels of the Columbus module on the International Space Station, using the video camera on the Canadian robotic arm. read more

For more news, see the news archive.