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bmnb123
New Member
USA
21 Posts |
 Posted - 06/23/2009 : 07:26:45
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I found this on slashdot.
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090612/full/459897a.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Support_Program
Aerospace power in the twenty-first century
"Nature reports that the US military has abruptly ended an informal arrangement that allowed scientists access to data on incoming meteors from classified surveillance satellites, dealing a blow to the astronomers and planetary scientists who used the information to track space rocks. 'These systems are extremely useful,' says astronomer Peter Brown, at the University of Western Ontario. 'I think the scientific community benefited enormously.' Meteor data came from the Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite network consisting of infrared satellites in geosynchronous orbit to monitor the globe for missile launches or atmospheric nuclear blasts, forming the principal component of the United States' ballistic missile early-warning system. The satellites' effectiveness was demonstrated during Desert Storm, when DSP detected the launch of Iraqi Scud missiles and provided warning to civilian populations and coalition forces in Israel and Saudi Arabia. As a side benefit, the satellites could also precisely detect the time, position, altitude and brightness of
meteors as they entered Earth's atmosphere, information the military didn't consider particularly useful, or classified. 'It was being
dropped on the floor,' says former Air Force captain Brian Weeden. Although the reason for ending the arrangement remains unclear, Weeden notes that it coincides with the launch of a new generation of surveillance satellites and speculates that the Pentagon may not want details of the new satellites' capabilities to be made public, or it may simply lack the expensive software needed to handle classified and declassified data simultaneously. 'The decision may have been made that it was perhaps too difficult to disclose just these data.
[Edited link to conform to forum layout. //Dr. Mabuse]
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Edited by - Dr. Mabuse on 06/24/2009 03:08:36
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2009 : 15:42:43 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by bmnb123
I found this on slashdot... |
Interesting. I had not heard of that.
Any military intelligence agency anywhere is going to have a preferred amount of information it would like to give out to strangers: None whatsoever. Any scientist has a quantum of data that he or she would like to be able to access: All of it.
It's interesting to me to know now that the military was sharing information with scientists at all. There must be some new factor in the mix for them to suddenly stop doing so.
Information about America's (now probably augmented) capability to track meteors would tell the world a great deal about its ability to track incoming ballistic missiles. I suspect that there are two new factors:
1) The new generation of tracking satellites launched by the US.
2) North Korea, which seems intent upon developing its long-range ballistic missile program. I think the US is readying a capability to shoot down any missile fired by North Korea, and wants everything about such a capability to be completely secret. My guess is that any missile from North Korea that looks to be on a trajectory that would reenter the atmosphere as distantly from Korea as the Central Pacific will be destroyed, probably in mid-course.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2009 : 18:48:16 [Permalink]
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As a further thought, it occurs to me that possible compromise should be possible. The US military could continue to provide the same degree of meteor data to scientists as before. They could select data that would have been gathered with the earlier, less sensitive equipment, and leave out data that the old equipment would have missed. But maybe they don't want to assign personnel and resources to this task, especially at a time when a North Korean missile launch toward Hawaii is expected.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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US Military Blocks Data On Incoming Meteors
