The database of bolide events that was established during phase 1 of this project is unprecedented in IT's spatial coverage, completeness, and number of events tabulated. The work proposed in phase…

The SETI Institute has been awarded a $3.5M cooperative agreement by a civilian federal agency with completion targeted for February 2030. This Phase 2 effort builds on the institute's Phase 1 work establishing an unprecedented database of bolide (meteor) events characterized by extensive spatial coverage and event completeness. The Phase 2 work will mature the bolide detection pipeline, establish calibration methodologies for signals, and contribute investigation results to a public database. The SETI Institute's technical qualifications for this work derive from their Phase 1 experience and substantive expertise in time-domain data processing applied to NASA's Kepler, K2, and TESS spacecraft missions. No socioeconomic set-aside designation applies to this award.

The work will be performed in Mountain View, California, where the SETI Institute maintains its headquarters. As a non-profit scientific research organization, the institute brings specialized capabilities in data analysis, instrumentation development, and advanced research methodologies across astrobiology, planetary science, and astronomy. The cooperative agreement structure reflects the collaborative nature of this effort with the federal government, with the institute's selection based on demonstrated technical merit and relevant experience rather than set-aside considerations. This award represents continued investment in bolide detection infrastructure that will enhance public access to meteorite impact data and contribute to planetary science understanding.

The database of bolide events that was established during phase 1 of this project is unprecedented in IT's spatial coverage, completeness, and number of events tabulated. The work proposed in phase 2 is highly meritorious in that IT will mature the bolide detection pipeline significantly, establish a method to correctly calibrate the signals, and contribute the results of the investigation to a public database. The proposal team is uniquely qualified to do this work given the experience in phase 1 and their substantive experience with other time-domain data processing for the kepler, K2, and tess NASA spacecraft.