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Re: (meteorobs) Earlier fireball releases.
Bill Hollenbach wrote:
> You pay for it, so why cant you use it????
> Someone should inform them the cold war is over!!!!
1. Which of the many cold wars are you referring to, and what makes you
think it is over?
2. A definitive listing done honestly would reveal far too much about
the satellites capabilities, and those satellites are tasked for
missions that benefit all of those hoping to detect the violations of
the test ban on certain weapons of mass destruction.
3. The information is released discretely, and I would be surprised if
the released data was not altered in some way to disguise the satellite
characterists but not hinder it's scientific validity. Rest assured
that defence scientists have just as much interest in pure science as
any other scientists.
4. You can confirm point 3 by looking up the S&T article on computing
meteor paths and illumination characteristics that were validated by
such information and sample data is avilable. The software is posted at
the S&T site. The article was printed sometime ago, like maybe 1992.
Please note that I am not an American but I have worked with them.
Compared to other countries, their military is relatively open with the
data of potential scientific value. Of course we would like them, and
others to be more open, but you must realize the basic principles of
military security ensure a very conservative policy on the release of
such data and they should. Any errors have the potential to cost lives!
When the openess of many other countries matches that of the American
military, perhaps then we might expect Americans to ask the military to
relax a bit more.
Regards,
John
--
John Ohrt, Regina, SK, Canada
johrt@ibmdot net
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