Dangerous debris near rocket launches could be tracked in real time by combining tricks from particle colliders, moon landings and vulture tracking, a new study finds.

In a paper to be published in Acta Astronautica, physicist Philip Metzger of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and colleagues describe a technique to plot the paths and determine the densities of worrisome detritus kicked up during launch. This method could help flight engineers know instantly which pieces of debris threaten the spacecraft.

“We combined together two different types of software that can do on-site analysis,” Metzger says. “In the future we can take video of the launch environment, and the software can automatically … conclude what were the sources and the makeup of the debris.” The paper was published online at arXiv.org on October 22.

“For manned missions, this is very important. I’m surprised it’s not been done yet,” comments Nilton Renno of the University of Michigan, who studies how rocket plumes from Mars landers affect the Martian surface. “It will improve our confidence in the ass