Constraining the Pre-atmospheric Parameters of Large Meteoroids: Košice, a Case Study
Out of a total around 50,000 meteorites currently known to science, the atmospheric passage was recorded instrumentally in only 25 cases with the potential to derive their atmospheric trajectories and pre-impact heliocentric orbits. Similarly, while observations of meteors generate thousands of new entries per month to existing databases, it is extremely rare they lead to meteorite recovery (http://www.meteoriteorbits.info/). These 25 exceptional cases thus deserve a thorough re-examination by different techniques—not only to ensure that we are able to match the model with the observations, but also to enable the best possible interpretation scenario and facilitate the robust extraction of …
Fluorescence explorer (FLEX): An optimised payload to map vegetation photosynthesis from space
The FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX) mission proposes to launch a satellite for the global monitoring of steady-state chlorophyll fluorescence in terrestrial vegetation. Fluorescence is a sensitive probe of photosynthetic function in both healthy and physiologically perturbed vegetation, and a powerful non-invasive tool to track the status, resilience, and recovery of photochemical processes and moreover provides important information on overall photosynthetic performance with implications for related carbon sequestration. The early responsiveness of fluorescence to atmospheric, soil and plant water balance, as well as to atmospheric chemistry and human intervention in land usage makes it an ob…