RE: SATOBS ML (remote), 10 June 2014: Prowler (flared!)

From: Ted Molczan via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 16:11:46 -0400
Allen Thomson wrote:

> It would be of interest to follow Prowler's flaring.  While there's a lot of supposition and
> speculation involved, Prowler, like LES-8, is thought to have been optically stealthy during
> its operational life, probably just by hiding behind a suitably oriented mirror. "Suitably
> oriented" means that the line of sight from a terrestrial observer would have been sent off
> into deep, dark space.  But once the operational period had passed and control over
> orientation was lost, the mirror might occasionally show that terrestrial observer something
> brighter. That might be the moon, the sun, the earth itself or something else.  Some modeling
> of the geometries involved  might provide insights into the possibilities.

I am not certain that it is precisely relevant to the present topic, but in summer 1971 MIT Lincoln Laboratory was
"investigating the Soviet capability to detect U.S. geostationary satellites". See pg. 164:

https://www.ll.mit.edu/about/History/MIT_Lincoln_Laboratory_history_book.pdf

There is plenty of interesting reading in that book related to space surveillance.

Ted Molczan



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Received on Tue Jun 10 2014 - 15:12:37 UTC

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