FOIA: Search for Correlative Data - 22 Sep 1979 Vela satellite event

SEARCH_FOR_CORRELATIVE_DA TA_747_JAN_15_1982.pdf
Search for Correlative Data - 22 Sep 1979 Vela satellite event
A Report titled 'Search for Correlative Data' by Aerospace Corp. on the 22 Sep 1979 Vela satellite event.
Document date: 1982-01-05
Department: Aerospace Corporation
Author: C.J. Rice
Document type: report
pages: 15


Archivist's Notes: 'Top Secret' marked through, Unclassified. Some figure/graphs deleted. External distribution list. Index shows 19 pages; document has 15.

Summary

1. This document is supplemental to this thread: Possible origins of optical data for the 22 Sep 1979 Vela satellite event;

2. This document concerns overflights of the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans and southern Africa to confirm or debunk a ground-based nuclear explosion;

3. Internet research indicates that later astrophysical research determined the incident in question was one of the first detected gamma ray bursts.

Document prepared for Air Force Technical Applications Center – 15 pages.
Title: “Search for Correlative Data (U) – 747” Dated 15 January 1982.

Written by C. J. Rice, approved by Director Space Sciences Laboratory. External Distribution went to Sandia Laboratories, Sandia Base, Albuquerque NM.

Introduction states “This report will examine data from the Mission A sensors on DSP satellites Flight 6 and Flight 7 which bear on the questions raised by the Vela sighting.”
And toward the end of the introduction… “ In a search of this kind, without any additional information about event location, it would be hopeless to attempt to identify any transient event with a detected signal below….”

Note: Sections of the introduction are deleted/blanked out.

List of figures:
1. DSP flight 6 and 7 subsatellite locations and limits of field of view.
2. Source intensity in w/sr, ………. For the first 14 seconds after detonation.
3. Location of Mission A returns from flight 7 for the scan of the southwest sector immediately following the Vela trigger.
4. Location of Mission A returns from flight 6 for the scan of the southeast sector immediately following the Vela trigger.
5. Calculated transmittance in the sensor passband through a mid-latitude summer model atmosphere as a function of zenith angle.
6. Water vapor mixing ratio at 1000mb as a function of latitude for the period September to November averaged over all longitudes.
7. Equivalent relative humidity as a function of latitude in the southern hemisphere.
8. Atmospheric transmission loss factors as a function of location on the earth.
9. Approximate projection on the earth of the scan line for the flight 6 Mission A sensor at several selected times relative to the Vela trigger.
10. Approximate projection on the earth of the scan line for the flight 7 Mission A sensor at several selected times relative to the Vela trigger.
11. Iso-intensity contours at the satellite ……… device and the transmission loss factors given by fig. 8.

Only figures 5, 6, 7 however, are visible in the document….all others are blanked out.