Airborne re-entry observations
Taking measurements of returning satellites, space debris, and meteors from the window of a jet (and from the ground).
There’s lots to learn from taking measurements of objects as they re-enter the earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speeds (and extremely hot temperatures).
My colleagues focus on spectroscopy, while I focus on position and trajectory reconstruction and triangulation.
In September 2024 we joined NASA in Salt Lake City to observe the re-entry of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx satellite. Stay tuned for results and publications!
The entire OSIRIS-Rex re-entry observation team, including NASA SCIFLI, JAXA, the University of Southern Queensland, and some other distinguished researchers and guests.
(L) - The UniSQ team for the OSIRIS-REx observation. (R) - Me at the measurement station, 4:30am, on the day of re-entry.