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hellosailor · 12-11-2007, 14:05

Guys, apparently none of you were online ten(?) years ago when a racing boat (Coyote? was it?) was lost mid-Atlantic and the well-known skipper (bad day for memory, I don't recall his name at the moment either) had enough friends and family so that even his Senator was asking the DoD to use satellite imaging to look for basically a 40-50' long sailboat someplace in the middle of the Atlantic.

There was a lot of commentary and a lot of statements, basically the issue is that even when we KNOW satellite capabilities and tasking, the DoD is not going to make any use of any satellite that could in any way compromise the military mission of that satellite--or reveal any of its capabilities. That's their line and for at least a decade now they have stuck to it, pretty much the same way that the USN will still refuse to comment on whether any nuclear munitions are aboard any particular ship when it enters any particular port.

Also of interest to some of you, might be that commercial imagery--which is available down to the 1-2 meter range, damn close to declassified military quality if not the equal of it--is available. A shi*load of this was made available free (AFAIK) and to the public via the Amazon Mechanical Turk program, so that literally ANYONE could scan hi-resolution current satellite images to help in the search for Steve Fossett--who is still missing and unaccounted for now. A month? or so after he failed to return from a routine flight in a single-engine plane.

So, even if you use satellites--there's a lot to look for. And the DoD is most definitely not going to do anything that might confirm or refute any of their capabilities. From their perspective it is "Protect 330 million citizens by abandoning *one* of them."

Wanna change it? OK, start by writing to your Congresscritter, ask them not to laugh to hard and shine you on when you say you want a USCG budget or a military liaison to use DoD satellites for civilian SAR tasks. It could happen--I just wouldn't place bets on it.

12-11-2007, 14:05	#9
hellosailor Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 3,993	Guys, apparently none of you were online ten(?) years ago when a racing boat (Coyote? was it?) was lost mid-Atlantic and the well-known skipper (bad day for memory, I don't recall his name at the moment either) had enough friends and family so that even his Senator was asking the DoD to use satellite imaging to look for basically a 40-50' long sailboat someplace in the middle of the Atlantic. There was a lot of commentary and a lot of statements, basically the issue is that even when we KNOW satellite capabilities and tasking, the DoD is not going to make any use of any satellite that could in any way compromise the military mission of that satellite--or reveal any of its capabilities. That's their line and for at least a decade now they have stuck to it, pretty much the same way that the USN will still refuse to comment on whether any nuclear munitions are aboard any particular ship when it enters any particular port. Also of interest to some of you, might be that commercial imagery--which is available down to the 1-2 meter range, damn close to declassified military quality if not the equal of it--is available. A shiload of this was made available free (AFAIK) and to the public via the Amazon Mechanical Turk program, so that literally ANYONE could scan hi-resolution current satellite images to help in the search for Steve Fossett--who is still missing and unaccounted for now. A month? or so after he failed to return from a routine flight in a single-engine plane. So, even if you use satellites--there's a lot to look for. And the DoD is most definitely not going to do anything that might confirm or refute any of their capabilities. From their perspective it is "Protect 330 million citizens by abandoning one* of them." Wanna change it? OK, start by writing to your Congresscritter, ask them not to laugh to hard and shine you on when you say you want a USCG budget or a military liaison to use DoD satellites for civilian SAR tasks. It could happen--I just wouldn't place bets on it.