Quote from: Blackstar on 04/17/2014 12:49 pmQuote from: Star One on 04/16/2014 06:42 pmOn a serious point I really do fear that future archivists may encounter 'black holes' in the data from such satellites due to issues with the storage.They are of course aware of this stuff. That doesn't necessarily mean that they do anything about it.I believe (and I'm basing this only on circumstantial info I've gathered, but I could ask people) that NASA's Planetary Data System includes efforts to make sure that old data is stored and kept so that it can be accessed. I think that their bigger concern is that new spacecraft are now starting to return so much data that it is going to swamp the old stuff. But they are aware of legacy issues and can reach back several decades.But would there be the time, money & inclination to do this with very old data from the KH-11. Unless it has some worth still in an ongoing capacity to the intelligence agencies I cannot see them really being that bothered by the upkeep of 30 or 40 year old data.
Quote from: Star One on 04/16/2014 06:42 pmOn a serious point I really do fear that future archivists may encounter 'black holes' in the data from such satellites due to issues with the storage.They are of course aware of this stuff. That doesn't necessarily mean that they do anything about it.I believe (and I'm basing this only on circumstantial info I've gathered, but I could ask people) that NASA's Planetary Data System includes efforts to make sure that old data is stored and kept so that it can be accessed. I think that their bigger concern is that new spacecraft are now starting to return so much data that it is going to swamp the old stuff. But they are aware of legacy issues and can reach back several decades.
On a serious point I really do fear that future archivists may encounter 'black holes' in the data from such satellites due to issues with the storage.
You be surprised how vital historical reference imagery is when you're looking for details on say, underground bunkers
Yup, the smaller hard cased floppies were 3.5". I have a stack of them right beside me, I use them occasionally.
Blackstar, for hidden bunkers I would go back further to before the site was modified. That way you could see what was moved. That hill looks new, let's see if we can pop it...
Quote from: Blackstar on 04/13/2014 04:39 pmA few years ago there was an announcement put out by a government agency (NGA or NARA?) asking for contract proposals to scan all the film and make it digitally available. I cannot find a link to that announcement--I think it was also posted to NSF so somebody here may be able to locate it after my search efforts failed--but it was clear that the original intention was to scan the imagery digitally. Obviously they never did that.Might this RFI be the one?Historical Imagery Digitization Data ProjectSolicitation Number: HM1582-11-ACT-SN0001Agency: Other Defense AgenciesOffice: National Geospatial-Intelligence AgencyPosted Date: February 14, 2011 https://www.fbo.gov/index?id=d84b37e005a0c76d147b0a8ee97f07fdEdit: Maybe this url will work insteadhttps://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=d84b37e005a0c76d147b0a8ee97f07fd&tab=core&_cview=0
A few years ago there was an announcement put out by a government agency (NGA or NARA?) asking for contract proposals to scan all the film and make it digitally available. I cannot find a link to that announcement--I think it was also posted to NSF so somebody here may be able to locate it after my search efforts failed--but it was clear that the original intention was to scan the imagery digitally. Obviously they never did that.
More importantly, after this 2014 thread, I am trying to understand what the end result and storage is for the KH-9 HEXAGON images from [1,2] and discussed above. Some quick googling turned up more questions than answers which is why pointers and conclusions are appreciated.- Was there a positive response on the solicitation [1] to scan all images at high resolution? - Or was only a subset scanned and made available at [3]? - Are the original films stil at the Archives [2] ? - Is there an easier to search index to these films and images these days, or still the initial CD as released to NARA? - Is there a need for special readers or software? - I do see that a subset of images might be available via [3] but is that the low or high resolution variant? - How many more are in archives and in what format?
I think the material was taken out of NARA many years ago. But you're going to have to look online to find out how to order imagery. I know somebody who has obtained imagery of the US.