Military's Satellite Meteor Data Sharing May Soon Resume

jbdigriz writes "Leonard David has a followup piece to his original story, referenced here on June 22nd ('US Military Blocks Data On Incoming Meteors'). Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Rego explains his decision to suspend the meteor data sharing program due to 'loopholes' in the informal arrangement. He and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher hold out some hope that the program will resume on a more secure basis at some unspecified but not too distant point."

Re:No! Don't tell us!

[mpoulton]

I had the same reaction, why would meteor data ever be classified????

Did you RTFA? This actually makes some sense when taken in context and explained... as in the article. The problem is that providing the data collected about incoming meteors necessarily describes the functionality and implied limitations of the detection system. Knowing the capabilities and limitations provides a strategic advantage to those who might try to avoid detection. Since the system is so complex and advanced, it is reasonable to believe that the capabilities will not be fully known by other militaries unless the information is leaked - or released in the form of data output.

Scientists are Liberals?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, if you read TFA, the military specifically didn't want sensor data compromised, and some asshat scientist ruined the show by publishing a lightcurve off one of the meteors, which was a no-no per the agreement. I can see why the military stomped on that hard. And yes, sensor capability is a big deal; It's not like you can launch another satellite without the world knowing about it, and upgrading the sensors already got nuked by congress for being over budget.

Re:No! Don't tell us!

[John Hasler]

The data was being released in a somewhat informal fashion. There may not have been any classified stuff leaked in the past, but it could happen in the future if, for example, the system is upgraded and the quality of the released data suddenly changes. The general wants the data to be properly declassified to make sure that doesn't happen, but declassification is expensive and he doesn't have a budget for it. It's possible that the deal he has struck involves some other agency reimbursing his command for the cost of declassifying and publishing the data.

Re:Scientists are Liberals?

[Decker-Mage]

Political leanings are irrelevant here. From the light curve, you can extrapolate sensor capability in a various applications such as boost-course, mid-course, even late-course ballistic missile/warhead intercept capabilities, which should, given known albedo characteristics for those phases, liklihood of detection. That's just one engineer's perspective.

Re:No! Don't tell us!

[theshibboleth]

Actually the U.S. military has already used its control of the GPS satellites to its strategic advantage - during the Persian Gulf War the U.S. made the GPS satellites give data that was slightly off and then reset the satellites so the Iraqis had to waste time recalibrating their weapons systems twice before the war started.