Graham wrote: <<It would be interesting to know why members are so "addicted" to reporting the orbital path of these satelittes Do members see this as a fun game to see how many sats they can spot purely for the sake of it?,or maybe they see themselves as "cheeky spy hunters",or do they feel this information can benefit our world on some other level?>> I respect the right of those who own and/or track satellites to withhold the orbital elements that they generate. However, the space surrounding Earth belongs to everyone, and I assert an equal right to learn what I am able about the objects that orbit there, and to share my findings as I see fit. I strongly believe that there are public benefits to be derived from the efforts of myself and my colleagues. <<Who actually uses this data?,what is the benefit of making this data public?>> Over the past 15 years, our efforts have assisted numerous journalistic and scholarly researches into reconnaissance satellites. For example, you may recall that in the immediate aftermath of the loss of Shuttle Columbia, the public and the press asked whether or not, during STS 107, the KeyHole imaging reconnaissance satellites could have been used to detect and assess the extent of any damage. You may also recall that in press briefings, NASA officials played down the potential usefulness of such images, based upon their experience. (Those same officials were also adamant that the now infamous piece of foam insulation could not possibly have inflicted the fatal damage.) The press wanted to probe more deeply into the issue of satellite imaging, and within hours of the tragedy, I heard from NBC reporter Robert Windrem, which led me to perform several hours of analysis, resulting in this news report (you may need to scroll down the page a bit to find it): http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3077590 That story was a retrospective look at Columbia's very first mission, in 1981, when it was rumoured to have been imaged by a KeyHole, due to concerns about possible tile damage. Days later, Washington Post reporter Rick Weiss contacted me, asking whether or not KeyHoles had been in a position to image Columbia on STS 107. Fortunately, Tony Beresford in Australia, and Greg Roberts in South Africa, had tracked KeyHole USA 129 throughout the mission of STS 107, so we had excellent orbital data, which enabled me to perform the analysis requested by the Washington Post, which resulted in this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A5330-2003Feb13 Soon after, I created a web page which provides much greater detail on the matter, including the analysis of a second KeyHole, USA 161, thanks to subsequent excellent tracking efforts by David Brierley and Bjorn Gimle: http://www.satobs.org/columbia/KeyHolesattosat.html#STS107 It was one thing to know that imaging was possible in theory, quite another to know that numerous close conjunctions had actually occurred, that would have supported very high resolution imaging. Therefore, I believe that our efforts played a small, but worthwhile, role in informing the public debate on an important aspect of STS 107. Also, last year, I was asked to help compile a table of the world's military satellites for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's (SIPRI's) 2003 Yearbook, which includes this acknowledgement of my fellow hobbyists: "The authors wish to acknowledge the international group of hobbyists who annually produce thousands of precise observations of over 100 US military satellites, from which they derive accurate orbital elements. This small, informal group is the sole public source of orbital data for more than 30 of the satellites listed in these tables." <<As the "hide the tanks" article states some member have 150,000 plus observations over a decade or more;this is a deep commitment which must have a driving motivation.>> You refer to the work of Russell Eberst, who has observed satellites since the dawn of the space age - for the first several decades in support of geophysical researches, more recently in an effort to obtain observational data on a wide variety of satellites, not only "spy sats". His photometric observations are the backbone of the accurate magnitude estimates taken for granted by those using many of the popular prediction services and software. <<I would suggest that all trackers do look at all angles of this hobby as it may well prove to be it is not your own opinion that matters,but others who may have the ultimate power to act.>> Who are the others, and how might they act? Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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