Jupiter family comets contribute a significant amount of debris to near-Earth space. However, telescopic observations of these objects seem to suggest they have short physical lifetimes. If this is true, the material generated will also be short-lived, but fireball observation networks still detect material on cometary orbits. This study examines centimeter-meter scale sporadic meteoroids detected by the Desert Fireball Network from 2014-2020 originating from Jupiter family comet-like orbits. Analyzing each event's dynamic history and physical characteristics, we confidently determined whether they originated from the main asteroid belt or the trans-Neptunian region. Our results indicate that <4% of sporadic meteoroids on JFC-like orbits are genetically cometary. This observation is statistically significant and shows that cometary material is too friable to survive in near-Earth space. Even when considering shower contributions, meteoroids on JFC-like orbits are primarily from the main-belt. Thus, the presence of genuine cometary meteorites in terrestrial collections is highly unlikely.
@article{arxiv.2105.07442,
title = {The main asteroid belt: the primary source of debris on comet-like orbits},
author = {Patrick M. Shober and Eleanor K. Sansom and Phil A. Bland and Hadrien A. R. Devillepoix and Martin C. Towner and Martin Cupák and Robert M. Howie and Benjamin A. D. Hartig and Seamus L. Anderson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.07442},
year = {2021}
}