AMD_RT Autonomus Meteor Detection # 24654

Develop an Autonomous Radio Telescope to detect meteors in Earth's upper atmosphere. Traditionally meteors are detected VISUALLY, with ALL the inherent limitations of visual detection in our Western New York environment (weather, cloud cover, light pollution / no dark skies, etc). This proposed method would attempt to break out of those constraints. For those NOT in the celestial realm, a meteor is usually a piece of a comet, asteroid or planet made of rock or ice, that has been captured by Earth's gravity, and (visually) presents itself as a streak of light in the night sky. The light is generated from frictional heating, as it enters Earth's upper atmosphere, usually at high speed. The size of these particles can be a wide range, from a grain of sand or rice, up to many tons. The method proposed herein uses the principle of (passive) radio beam reflection & detection. By tuning in to a distant, clear channel, commercial FM radio station (88 - 108 MHz) that is over the horizon and beyond the 'line of sight' (undetectable by the local receiver), then a meteor's ionized cloud, acts as the reflector to 'bounce' the beam back down to the receiver's directional antenna. The receiver cannot see the transmitter directly, only the reflected signal from the meteor's ionized cloud.