 RADCAT Case Directory Category 9, RADAR Preliminary Rating: 5 |
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| RADCAT is a revitalized special
project now being conducted
jointly by NICAP &
Project 1947 with the help and
cooperation of the original compiler of RADCAT, Martin Shough, to create a comprehensive listing
of radar cases with detailed
documentation from all
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UFOCAT and original
RADCAT. |
Unidentified
Target During Radar Mission 164
Oct. 11, 1958
Laredo, Texas
Oct. 11, 1958
Laredo, Texas
| Loren
Gross: 11 October (1958). White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico. (7:21 a.m.) Strange radar target at a height of 64 miles. (See pages 47-52). Fran Ridge: Loren was referring to the docs I scanned in that Jan had sent, and his note was typed in the bottom of a non-relative page 46. Page 47 was the interim letter report which reads, "the AN/FPS-17 (XW-2) radar at the Laredo Test Site was in operation and the expected target was 1958 (?) 2, the instrumented portion of the third Russian satellite, Sputnik III. A target was observed , but the characteristics of the intercept would make one believe that the object observed was not the one expected." Subsequently, Dan Wilson was able to find the docs on the footenotes.com site. Dan Wilson: October 11, 1958; Laredo, Texas
At 1:22 a.m. local time, a radar target was picked up on a ground radar at the Laredo Test Site at at a range of 454 nautical miles and at 462 nautical miles at a height of 64 nautical miles. The targets lasted for a total of 28 seconds. One possible conclusion given says: (b) two meteors occurring in the same portion of space at very nearly the same time. According to the documents, two targets were observed. One target lasted for 27.3 seconds and the range of the target changed from 462 nmi. to 467 nmi. That is only a distance of 5 miles in 27.3 seconds. I would say that is rather slow for a meteor. The target was observed in three of four beams being energized. The radar being used was an AN/FPS-17(XW-2). |