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The 1998 Leonid multi‐instrument aircraft campaign—an early review
Author(s) -
JENNISKENS Peter,
BUTOW Steven J.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
meteoritics and planetary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.09
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 1086-9379
DOI - 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1999.tb01411.x
Subject(s) - software deployment , meteor shower , context (archaeology) , meteoroid , meteor (satellite) , astrobiology , aeronautics , meteorology , physics , environmental science , astronomy , engineering , geography , archaeology , software engineering
— The 1998 return of the Leonid shower was the target of the Leonid multi‐instrument aircraft campaign (Leonid MAC), an unusual two‐aircraft astronomical research mission executed near Okinawa, Japan. The prospect of a meteor storm brought 28 researchers of 7 nationalities together in a concerted effort to observe the shower by imaging, spectroscopic, and ranging techniques. This paper is a review of the major science issues that are behind the deployment of each of the present array of instruments and describes the interconnection of the various experiments. This was NASA's first astrobiology mission. The mission also aimed to study contemporary issues in planetary astronomy, in atmospheric sciences, and concerning the satellite impact hazard. First results of the participating observers are discussed and put in context, in preparation for the deployment of a planned second mission in November of 1999.