[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

RE: US DOD FIREBALL RELEASE

Ron - 
    I'm curious.  Surely you know Gene's dead, died in car crash
Australia last year, and that his wife  Carolyn is still alive?
    I did not know that the AF released past  sensor data back in
1994.  When I met Harrison Scmitt yesterday at the Orbital
stockholders meeting, he told me that Gene had worked with air
pressure data trying to extract bollide events from them.  I don't
think that he ever knew about the AF's acoustic arrays.
     What I think is that the AF may change its mind about is
releasing data on historical events which were detected by its
sensors.  Certainly FOI is one  way of getting this, but I think it is
likely that the AF will release it on its own when the movies come out.
      Come to think of it, you guys out there at JPL have a pretty
good relationship with the AF.  Maybe you  
could ask around for us?  [of course, we all like to 
stay employed   : ) ]
                                  Best wishes - 
                                     Ed




---Ron Baalke  wrote:
>
> >    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
> 
> 

_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com