# Recovery of Meteorites Using an Autonomous Drone and Machine Learning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.06523 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.06523/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 5 of its 22 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 11 Jun 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.0575/) (2014)
- [Recent Advances in Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.07108/) (2015)
- [Caffe: Convolutional Architecture for Fast Feature Embedding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1408.5093/) (2014)
- [Machine Learning for Semi-Automated Meteorite Recovery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.13852/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Successful Recovery of an Observed Meteorite Fall Using Drones and Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.01466/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The recovery of freshly fallen meteorites from tracked and triangulated meteors is critical to determining their source asteroid families. However, locating meteorite fragments in strewn fields remains a challenge with very few meteorites being recovered from the meteors triangulated in past and ongoing meteor camera networks. We examined if locating meteorites can be automated using machine learning and an autonomous drone. Drones can be programmed to fly a grid search pattern and take systematic pictures of the ground over a large survey area. Those images can be analyzed using a machine learning classifier to identify meteorites in the field among many other features. Here, we describe a proof-of-concept meteorite classifier that deploys off-line a combination of different convolution neural networks to recognize meteorites from images taken by drones in the field. The system was implemented in a conceptual drone setup and tested in the suspected strewn field of a recent meteorite fall near Walker Lake, Nevada.