[meteorite-list] Military intelligence-- still an oxymoron.

[Greg Catterton]

Perhaps they have found "the big one" heading right for us and dont want it to get out...

--- On Thu, 6/11/09, Darren Garrison <cynapse at charter.net> wrote:


> From: Darren Garrison <cynapse at charter.net>

> Subject: [meteorite-list] Military intelligence-- still an oxymoron.

> To: Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com

> Date: Thursday, June 11, 2009, 5:10 PM

> http://www.space.com/news/090610-military-fireballs.html

> 

> Military Hush-Up: Incoming Space Rocks Now Classified

> By Leonard David

> SPACE.com's Space Insider Columnist

> posted: 10 June 2009

> 05:35 pm ET

> 

> For 15 years, scientists have benefited from data gleaned

> by U.S. classified

> satellites of natural fireball events in Earth's atmosphere

> – but no longer.

> 

> A recent U.S. military policy decision now explicitly

> states that observations

> by hush-hush government spacecraft of incoming bolides and

> fireballs are

> classified secret and are not to be released, SPACE.com has

> learned.

> 

> The satellites' main objectives include detecting nuclear

> bomb tests, and their

> characterizations of asteroids and lesser meteoroids as

> they crash through the

> atmosphere has been a byproduct data bonanza for

> scientists.

> 

> The upshot: Space rocks that explode in the atmosphere are

> now classified.

> 

> "It's baffling to us why this would suddenly change," said

> one scientist

> familiar with the work. "It's unfortunate because there was

> this great

> synergy...a very good cooperative arrangement. Systems were

> put into dual-use

> mode where a lot of science was getting done that couldn't

> be done any other

> way. It's a regrettable change in policy."

> 

> Scientists say not only will research into the threat from

> space be hampered,

> but public understanding of sometimes dramatic sky

> explosions will be

> diminished, perhaps leading to hype and fear of the

> unknown.

> 

> Incoming!

> 

> Most "shooting stars" are caused by natural space debris no

> larger than peas.

> But routinely, rocks as big as basketballs and even small

> cars crash into the

> atmosphere. Most vaporize or explode on the way in, but

> some reach the surface

> or explode above the surface. Understandably, scientists

> want to know about

> these events so they can better predict the risk here on

> Earth.

> 

> Yet because the world is two-thirds ocean, most incoming

> objects aren't visible

> to observers on the ground. Many other incoming space rocks

> go unnoticed because

> daylight drowns them out.

> 

> Over the last decade or so, hundreds of these events have

> been spotted by the

> classified satellites. Priceless observational information

> derived from the

> spacecraft were made quickly available, giving researchers

> such insights as

> time, a location, height above the surface, as well as

> light-curves to help pin

> down the amount of energy churned out from the fireballs.

> 

> And in the shaky world we now live, it's nice to know that

> a sky-high detonation

> is natural versus a nuclear weapon blast.

> 

> Where the space-based surveillance truly shines is over

> remote stretches of

> ocean – far away from the prospect of ground-based data

> collection.

> 

> But all that ended within the last few months, leaving

> scientists blind-sided

> and miffed by the shift in policy. The hope is that the

> policy decision will be

> revisited and overturned.

> 

> Critical importance

> 

> "The fireball data from military or surveillance assets

> have been of critical

> importance for assessing the impact hazard," said David

> Morrison, a Near Earth

> Object (NEO) scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center. He

> noted that his views

> are his own, not as a NASA spokesperson.

> 

> The size of the average largest atmospheric impact from

> small asteroids is a key

> piece of experimental data to anchor the low-energy end of

> the power-law

> distribution of impactors, from asteroids greater than 6

> miles (10 kilometers)

> in diameter down to the meter scale, Morrison told

> SPACE.com.

> 

> "These fireball data together with astronomical

> observations of larger

> near-Earth asteroids define the nature of the impact hazard

> and allow rational

> planning to deal with this issue," Morrison said.

> 

> Morrison said that fireball data are today playing

> additional important roles.

> 

> As example, the fireball data together with infrasound

> allowed scientists to

> verify the approximate size and energy of the unique

> Carancas impact in the

> Altiplano -- on the Peru-Bolivia border -- on Sept. 15,

> 2007.

> 

> Fireball information also played an important part in the

> story of the small

> asteroid 2008 TC3, Morrison said. That was the first-ever

> case of the

> astronomical detection of a small asteroid before it hit

> last year. The fireball

> data were key for locating the impact point and the

> subsequent recovery of

> fragments from this impact.

> 

> Link in public understanding

> 

> Astronomers are closing in on a years-long effort to find

> most of the

> potentially devastating large asteroids in our neck of the

> cosmic woods, those

> that could cause widespread regional or global devastation.

> Now they plan to

> look for the smaller stuff.

> 

> So it is ironic that the availability of these fireball

> data should be curtailed

> just at the time the NEO program is moving toward surveying

> the small impactors

> that are most likely to be picked up in the fireball

> monitoring program,

> Morrision said.

> 

> "These data have been available to the scientific community

> for the past

> decade," he said. "It is unfortunate this information is

> shut off just when it

> is becoming more valuable to the community interested in

> characterizing near

> Earth asteroids and protecting our planet from asteroid

> impacts."

> 

> The newly issued policy edict by the U.S. military of

> reporting fireball

> observations from satellites also caught the attention of

> Clark Chapman, a

> planetary scientist and asteroid impact expert at Southwest

> Research Institute

> in Boulder, Colorado.

> 

> "I think that this information is very important to make

> public," Chapman told

> SPACE.com.

> 

> "More important than the scientific value, I think, is that

> these rare, bright

> fireballs provide a link in public understanding to the

> asteroid impact hazard

> posed by still larger and less frequent asteroids," Chapman

> explained. 

> 

> Those objects are witnessed by unsuspecting people in

> far-flung places, Chapman

> said, often generating incorrect and exaggerated reports.

> 

> "The grounding achieved by associating these reports by

> untrained observers with

> the satellite measurements is very useful for calibrating

> the observer reports

> and closing the loop with folks who think they have seen

> something mysterious

> and extraordinary," Chapman said.

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