Slashdot Mirror
US Military Blocks Data On Incoming Meteors
Hugh Pickens writes "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.'"
I would too, do you want people running around like Chicken Little?
From TFS, the military stopped giving out unclassified information that was a byproduct of a military function - a windfall.
"Blocks" means that the information would flow but for the military's action.
The editors (snicker) should have used "stops" - more ambiguous and yet more accurate at the same time. But I guess that wouldn't generate the clicks, now would it?
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
Meteors are coming, everyone panic.
"north korea"
Sure, sure, I'll just need one more quick function from you. Please write something to determine whether the high speed ballistic object that just showed up on the satellite is a missile, plane, or meteor.
Remember that size, temperature and speed will be variable within each type. Also, once you've identified the type of object, please determine classification. Accuracy of this product must be 100%.
http://www.chaotickingdoms.com
If the military believed that, given the meteor information, a black hat could deduce not only the capabilities of the satellites, but their actual orbits, that would certainly give them cause to discontinue the program.
I think it is probable that the military has re-assigned the satellites so that more are looking in the direction of North Korea and possibly Iran. It would make a lot of sense to point the satellites in that direction and keep it secret.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
Reply from scientists: Get your own damned neutrino detectors.
Have gnu, will travel.
The question is "is that space debris? is that a commercial satellite? is that even WORKING?"
On top of that, I imagine they paint the things with a paint so that the don't reflect much light (just hypothesizing here, but I know I'd do it if I were them), to make it hard to see. Also, what about during the day?
If you figure every piece of space debris is watching you, you probably won't be doing much outside, ever.
The point is, someone is trying to put together information about sensor capabilities from the unclassified data (hell, maybe even we do it to other countries, and that's why we know to protect it ourselves), and that's why the DoD decided being able to pass that shit around wasn't worth it in comparison to possibly compromising the loss of capability.
if( object.type=TYPE_METEOR ) {
object.isClassified = false;
} else {
object.isClassified = true;
}
You just declassified EVERYTHING, including nuclear missiles.
http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
Said function would only be needed for a real-time system. The meteor data was being gleaned from old data.
The dumber and more embarrassing the various bits of conspiracy nonsense in evidence, the bigger and more remarkable the secret being covered up by the dissemination of said ridiculous bits of conspiracy nonsense. . .
The best way to make people look the other way is to make them cringe.
Psyche 1 oh 1.
-FL