Dale.Amon%CMU-RI-FAS@sri-unix.UUCP (08/26/84)
An ELT is a device to locate an aircraft that has gone down. If an aircraft has been actively identifying it's current position at short intervals, ala Geostar, the primary function of the ELT has been superseded: narrowing the search zone to a reasonably narrow region. Given the accuracy of GEOSTAR (meters) knowledge of location at the moment of impact is solely dependant upon the individual aircraft polling rates. There is no need for the annoyingly failure prone ELT in an aircraft so equiped. And if the standard polling rates aren't fast enough for you, I'll bet that Geostar Corp would be willing to sell you any CEP of impact you are willing to pay for. I think I'd feel quite safe if my 3-d position, direction and velocity were known to within five minutes prior to impact. (median 2.5min or approx 5 mile ground track assuming wind=0 and no drastic course changes during interval) If you don't like my numbers, I'll just increase the polling rate... Also, anyone who has interesting information on the upcoming Discovery launch, experiments, payloads, scheduling, or any any useful trivia I might use on a radio appearance this Wed. Please mail directly, as I may be too busy to check the BB... I have a considerable amount of info, but I figure someone out there knows things I don't about this flight. For example, does anyone know for sure if Walker is going to wear his L5 patch? amon@cmu-ri-fas.arpa