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RE: US DOD FIREBALL RELEASE

>    What's really sad about this is that DoD never 
>released any of this to Gene Shoemaker during his lifetime (as near as
>I know).  

The Air Force has been releasing these reports since at least 1994, so
they've been coming out during Shoemaker's lifetime.  Has Shoemaker bothered
to look at any of them?  Here's an archive of the reports:

http://phobos.astro.uwo.ca/~pbrown/usaf.html

>Also, while we "heard" about the El Paso bollide, 

Here's the Air Force report on the El Paso event released on
October 21, 1997:

http://phobos.astro.uwo.ca/~pbrown/dod971.txt

It is reported as both an impact and as a detonation at 36km.  It is not
clear to me if the Air Force's definition of an "impact" is
an Earth impact or an impact with the Earth's atmosphere.

>I don't
>think that DoD has ever released data recovered by their acoustic
>sensors back when the full network of them were operating in the 60's.
>   I can't explain why, but I have a stinking hunch that there is a
>lot more that DoD has not told us, 
>both about bollides and about their earlier plans for planetary
>defense.  

Well, considering we're talking about surveillance data from a military
satellite, and there are issues of national security at hand, it is not 
surprising that the DOD have not released the full data set.  The fact 
the Air Force is voluntarily releasing any data to the public on their own 
is to me pretty amazing.  The data from the 1960's can probably be obtained 
via the Freedom of Information Act.  Has anyone applied for it?

>Perhaps the openings of the movies 
>"Deep Impact" and "Armageddon" will cause them to change their minds.

Change their minds about what?  They are already sending out periodic
reports.  You also have to consider the national security aspect.  

I've seen Deep Impact already, and I definitely recommend seeing it.  
Armageddon comes out around July, though I haven't heard any reviews of it yet.

Ron Baalke