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The Search for Secret Shuttle Parts
Slashdot readers have been submitting this story about the search
for secret shuttle parts with all sorts of insane conspiracy theories attached to their cut & paste of the URL. It's apparently just the box that handled encryption for messages, so of course Uncle Sam wants it back. Quite the needle in a haystack tho.
1) This has been written hundreds of times before in the comments. :)
2) It is not Informative, it is Pathetic.
Ummm... I thought that a stinger missile uses only infrared guidence. Those missiles are not likely to be talking to an electronic gadget on the space shuttle, nor are they likely to be effective after the first few seconds of liftoff (when the engines are on and the vehicle is in range of the stinger). Even at liftoff, I would guess that a stinger might be incinerated by the exhaust plume before it reaches the shuttle.
The use infrared guidance to find the target. They may use IFOF to identify non-tagets.
I can't find any authoritative source like Jane's that lists this capability. However the idea of denying ordinance to the enemy has been known for years. The term 'spiking his guns' refers to the practice of carrying soft copper nails into battle to drive into the touchports of any captured weapons to stop them being used against them if the tide of battle turns again. Alternatively they might be used to prevent weapons that are about to be lost being turned against them (a less likely occurrence since the guns would usually be aimed in the wrong direction).
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Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
Obscurity is still a great way to increase security. If the "bad guys" can't even see or hold what we have - that is one layer extra they have to overcome to compromise the system.
Changing keys in devices is not a trivial ordeal - you need physical transports to every device needing rekeyed. It's time consuming and opens the door for other temporary exploits.
Obscurity is a good tool but never never never should it be the primary gatekeeper in keeping something secure.
As for the need for encrypted communication - I am sure there are controls in place that actions to be performed by to the shuttle by NASA on the ground. Wouldn't that be a nice thing to have encrypted and authenticated?
NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
Probably not much danger..
Its most likely a COMSEC module from the communications system - This would be what is termed a CCI (Cryptographically Controlled Item) by itself it would be useless to a terrorist - but coupled with the keying material it might be useful - it is doubtful to me that the device survived with the key still in memory - but I guess the government wants to be sure.
However, it is possible for the government to make both obscure and secure systems, because they have their own large pool of talented cryptographers: the NSA.
Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?
Hit the nail on the head, it's likely the encryption device, that sits between the radio input and the transmitter proper.
The reason they want it back is that is IS a CCI, and therefore by beuracratic law and common sense, must be recovered and accounted for.
As to the key not being intact, odds are the device was in use when crew perished. Likely they didn't zeroize (official term, no shit) the key. If the unit is intact, so is the key. Fortunately, the key storage space is "tamper proof" that would self destruct the storage area on any attempt to crack it open.
Striving to achieve a lower state of conciousness
Article VIII
A State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched into outer space is carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and over any personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body. Ownership of objects launched into outer space, including objects landed or constructed on a celestial body, and of their component parts, is not affected by their presence in outer space or on a celestial body or by their return to the Earth. Such objects or component parts found beyond the limits of the State Party to the Treaty on whose registry they are carried shall be returned to that State Party, which shall, upon request, furnish identifying data prior to their return.
Plus the applicable U.S. code
"Whoever embezzles, steals, purloins, or knowingly converts to his use or the use of another, or without authority, sells, conveys or disposes of any record, voucher, money, or thing of value of the United States or of any department or agency thereof, or any property made or being made under contract for the United States or any department or agency thereof; or..."
NASA has never relinquished control of the spacecraft, in case you hadn't noticed.
I am not a lawyer, nor do I suffer fools lightly...
18 USC 641 disagrees with you. That's what you'll be charged with if you keep Shuttle pieces, as The Smoking Gun has cheerfully shown us in the cases of Merrie Hipp and Bradley Gaudet.
You'll note there's no exception in there for "salvaging" it from your front yard. If it says "U.S. Government Property" on it, I suggest you return it -- but IANAL, so you're free to disregard my advice.
On the other hand, if the government wants it back permanently, they have two primary avenues of attack.
The first is to use or create legislation to prevent you from posessing it. If they make it illegal for you to own, then if they know you have it, they can come right on your property and take it, because getting a warrant will be trivial. If an item is sufficiently important then a limited state of emergency can be declared and then men in green wearing helmets and carrying M4s will show up and blitz their way through your property.
The second way is simply to use their overwhelming power to make your life hell until you give it up.
Finally; even with the aid of a lawyer it is difficult enough to get something illegally seized back from the police. You think you're going to get something back from the feds? hahahahahahahahahaha
hashahahahahhahaha
Et cetera.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The fuel I think they were talking about is called Hydrazine and is used to power certain in orbit aspects of the Shuttle. http://www.friends-partners.ru/partners/mwade/prop s/hydazine.htm for more info but the raw components of hydrazine include caustic, ammonia, and chlorine so I think it's safe to say it's really bad stuff.
The fuel I think they were talking about is called Hydrazine and is used to power certain in orbit aspects of the Shuttle.
Click here for more info but the raw components of hydrazine include caustic, ammonia, and chlorine so I think it's safe to say it's really bad stuff and they weren't just trying to scare people off.
My previous comment seems to have gotten zapped. Maybe the MIB got it.
l
I assume that what they lost is a COMSEC/TSEC encryption device. I used to work on them, but my knowledge about them is about twenty years old. I could tell you all about them, but then I would have to kill you. (I always wanted to use that line).
Seriously, if you want to know about that stuff, check out this URL:
http://webhome.idirect.com/~jproc/crypto/menu.htm
I worked on the NESTOR stuff at first, then worked on the VINSON stuff starting in '81 or so. You may notice that there is plenty of information about the NESTOR stuff on the site, but the stuff that is only twenty years old isn't well represented. There are no pictures. There are no circuit diagrams available even for the NESTOR stuff -- and that stuff came out in the 1960s. The military is serious about its crypto gear.
If one of us managed to lose an M16 automatic rifle, they -- or actually, we all would turn the place upside-down looking for it. If someone managed to lose a piece of crypto gear, we would wish that all they had lost is a machine gun or antitank rocket or something like that.
I'm not at all surprised that they are turning the place upside-down looking for the thing.
As for the launch: Florida is as much to the south and thus as close to the equator as possible in the USA. When launching a rocket into space, I understand that they take use of the slingshot effect that the Earth's rotation causes. At the equator this effect is maximal, so being nearer to it is advantageous.
For the landing: My understanding is that any space vehicle that approcaches Earth flies from East to West in order to match the rotation direction of Earth. If the vehicle would approcah from the other direction, the difference in speeds between the revolving Earth and the approaching object would be too large, making the needed retardation (= heat factor when entering the atmosphere) unnecessary great. I'm not sure though whether the optimal landing zone would be near the equator. Probably depends on the trajectory.
I answer this pretty sure that I'm not treading on any "confidentiality issues"
A Stinger has NO means of identifing anything except heat. However, the launcher can be equiped with an IFF interigator.
The IFF is just anouther transponder, which are used by most aircraft to give basic identification, altitude, and to help radar distinguish between an aircraft, and some other radar blip.
I doubt that the IFF itself is supersecret. However, the IFF code is. With it Hostile Agencies could use it as additional information to break the IFF code generation algorithm, which is a Bad Thing.
--Cam
All jocks think about is sports. All nerds think about is sex.
Hydrazine is indeed nasty stuff. They also use it on Emergency Power Units (EPU's) on the F-16. The training they provided (for those of us who worked on the F-16) indicated that, if exposed to it, your chance of developing leukemia increases about 1,000x. Not to mention the fact that it tends to burn at about 1,600 F and is EXTREMELY caustic. We lost an F-16 (an older one; it was in the local reserve unit) while I was stationed in Utah, and the news reports REPEATEDLY told people to stay the hell away from the wreckage, due to some of the noxious chemicals on board (jet fuel isn't exactly nice stuff, but it's nothing compared to hydrazine).
Hydrazine is commonly used for such backup power systems, including on the shuttle, because it is very compact and very simple to design in. Yes, if it leaks you need people in the full chem/bio suits to clean it up. But, if properly stored and used, it is very handy stuff.
Conspiracy theories aside, folks. Get a clue.
... by the Dew of Mountains the thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shakes, the shakes become a warning