The UK Desert Fireball Network: Continuation

沙漠火球网络已经是一个非常成功的设施。然而，为了充分开发这一系统的科学潜力(见“目标”)，有必要超越我们目前拥有的试验网络，建立一个覆盖大片区域(100万千米^2)的全面运作的火球网络。总结我们目前的成就：我们已经设计、建造了一个自主火球天文台，并进行了现场测试。我们在西澳大利亚州Nullarbor地区部署了这些部队的小型试验网络，并表明它们可以长期承受沙漠条件。我们展示了我们的成像系统，当集成到提供火球的网络观测时，可以提供一些有史以来从火球中恢复的最精确的轨道数据。我们确定了南半球火球的第一个轨道。我们确定了具有重大终端质量的物体的坠落位置。在第一次搜索的第一天，我们发现了一块陨石：第一块碎片是在预测的中心坠落线以南97米处发现的；不久之后，第二块碎片就在中线以北39米处被发现。总而言之，我们已经证明了我们有技术、后勤和方法来解决至关重要的研究问题，并获得了独特的样本集。剩下的最后一个里程碑是证明我们可以在地面上回收陨石。我们在陨石预测坠落位置的100米范围内发现了陨石，这一事实表明，我们结合了流星体暗飞行的标准计算和高层大气中风的高分辨率模拟(见Main Case)，是一个极其强大的工具。简而言之，我们已经实现了所有的近期目标。现在是超越初步网络的时候了，这样我们就可以充分满足中心研究目标。我们目前有四个天文台(其中两个是由STFC资助的)。这一试验网络只运行了大约两年半。虽然少量的天文台使其容易受到单点故障的影响(丢失一个相机可能会导致网络观测中断)，但我们在DFN(我们的生产力比以前的火球网络高出一个数量级--见Main Case)方面的成功表明，一个扩展的网络将能够在项目的整个生命周期内运送数十颗陨石。拟议的工作将使我们能够开始这一扩张。

The Desert Fireball Network has already been an extremely successful facility. However, to fully exploit the science potential of this system (see 'Objectives'), it is necessary to go beyond the trial network that we currently have, and build towards a fully operational fireball network covering a large area (>1 million km^2). To summarise our current achievements: We have designed, built, and field-tested an autonomous fireball observatory. We deployed a small trial network of these units in the Western Australian Nullarbor, and showed that they could withstand desert conditions for extended periods. We demonstrated that our imaging system, when integrated to provide networked observations of fireballs, could deliver some of the most precise orbital data ever recovered from fireballs. We determined the first orbits for southern hemisphere fireballs. We determined fall positions for objects with a significant terminal mass. We recovered a meteorite on the first day, of the first search: the first fragment was found 97m south from the predicted central fall line; the second fragment was recovered 39m north from the central line shortly after. In summary, we have demonstrated that we have the technology, logistics, and methodology to address research questions of fundamental importance, and acquire a unique sample set. The last remaining milestone was to prove that we could recover meteorites on the ground. The fact that we found meteorites within 100m of their predicted fall positions indicates that our combination of standard computation of meteoroid 'darkflight' and high resolution modelling of winds in the upper atmosphere (see main case) is an extremely powerful tool. In short, we have met all our near-term goals. It is now time to move beyond a preliminary network, so that we can fully address the central research objectives. We currently have four observatories (two of which are STFC funded). This trial network has been in operation for only around 2.5 years. Although the small number of observatories makes it vulnerable to single-point failure (loss of one camera can result in suspension of networked observations), our success with the DFN (we are orders-of-magnitude more productive than previous fireball networks - see main case) indicates that an expanded network will be capable of delivering dozens of meteorites over the lifetime of the project. The proposed work will allow us to begin that expansion.