INTRODUCTION AND PRECEDENTS of the SPMN network

The SPanish Meteor Network (SPMN) is a multidisciplinary project focused on astrophysics, cosmochemistry and planetary sciences that involves several universities and research centers in Spain.

The researchers integrated in this Network belong to the following institutions: Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio and Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC), Instituto de Estudios Espaciales de Cataluña (IEEC), Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universidad de Huelva, Universidad de la Rioja, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Universidad de Valencia and Laboratorio de Estudios Geofísicos Eduard Fonseré (Institut d’Estudis Catalans).

SPMN researchers promote the recovery of meteorites in Spain in order to increase the interest for the role they play for planetary sciences.

Meteorites are fascinating rocks that reach the Earth coming from different bodies in the Solar System: asteroids, maybe comets, and even the Moon and planet Mars. The study of these rocks provides valuable information about the origin and evolution of their parent bodies. Space missions focused on the recovery of samples from other objects of the Solar System are very costly and, as far as now, they could only provide samples from the Moon and small particles from comet 81P/Wild 2, but meteorites arrive continuously to Earth and are accompanied by luminous phenomena known as bolides or fireballs. The reconstruction of the trajectory of these phenomena by means of different techniques allows for the determination of the fall place that, once systematic searches are performed limited by area characteristics, allow for their recovery. So, the recovery and study of meteorites is a research field that supports space exploration and for this reason the SPMN is promoting this field of knowledge in Spain and neighbouring countries.

The first meeting of the SPMN members takes place after the 10th anniversary of the creation of this Network. It will be held in the province of Barcelona, where two SPMN centers, Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio (CSIC-IEEC) and Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, are located. These centers coordinate several video stations and have characterized the latest meteorites recovered in Spain: Villalbeto de la Peña (2004) and Puerto Lápice (2007). This first meeting will focus on the different research lines that SPMN members are currently developing. For this purpose, conferences, round tables and a visit to the video station located in Folgueroles (Barcelona) and operated by Agrupació Astronomica d'Osona have been organized.