Turn your Raspberry Pi into a cosmic detective! This radio meteor detector uses SDR to catch shooting stars by listening to radio reflections off their ionization trails.

Every second, countless meteors streak through Earth’s atmosphere, creating brilliant ionization trails that reflect radio waves back to the ground. While most of these cosmic visitors are invisible to the naked eye, this ingenious Raspberry Pi-based system transforms your humble single-board computer into a sophisticated radio meteor detection station. By monitoring reflections from the GRAVES radar system at 143.05 MHz, you can detect meteors 24/7, regardless of weather or daylight conditions.

The software performs real-time Fast Fourier Transform analysis on incoming radio signals, automatically triggering when it detects the characteristic frequency shifts caused by meteor trails. Each detection captures 10 seconds of raw I/Q sample data in 3.1MB numpy files, preserving every detail needed for advanced analysis including head echo studies. The system generates both audio files for human review and spectral data for computational analysis, with microsecond-precision timestamps essential for meteor shower research.

This open-source detector democratizes radio meteor astronomy, making it accessible to amateur astronomers, researchers, and educational institutions worldwide. With proper antenna setup and SDR hardware costing under $100, citizen scientists can contribute valuable data to meteor research networks while exploring the fascinating intersection of radio engineering and space science.

⭐ Stars: 5
💻 Language: Python
🔗 Repository: rabssm/MeteorRadio