SSC00-IV-3 Leonid Meteor Observer in LEO: A University Microsatellite to Observe a Meteor Shower From Space

This paper presents university-based design and development of a micro-satellite for the observation of a meteor shower from the low Earth orbit. The satellite will be launched as a piggy-back payload of a commercial rocket launcher, a few weeks before the 2001 or 2002 Leonid meteor maximum in which thousands of meteors are scientifically expected. The goal of the mission is to conduct the scientific observation of the prospective meteor outburst from out of atmosphere, counting the meteors in the large coverage of the night sky looked down on Earth and obtaining visible-Ultra Violet spectrographs of the meteor. Possible launch opportunity remains to be seen, but the designs of the satellite bus and scientific payloads are now initiated.