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Searchers to drop care packages for missing CNET editor
December 5, 2006
GeoEye's Ikonos satellite will fly over the Western seaboard at about 10:30 a.m. PT Wednesday at a distance from the Earth of about 423 miles, said Mark Brender, a spokesman for the Dulles, Va.-based GeoEye. The satellite could record images of an area as large as 2,000 square kilometers.
The cameras on the Ikonos boast a very high resolution, able to get a bead on objects 39 inches wide.
"If you set a card table out on a street, we couldn't see it was a card table," said Brender, "but we could let you know something that looked like a card table was there."
Kim is believed to be on foot in a remote wilderness area of southwest Oregon. He and his family were stranded while traveling home to San Francisco following a road trip to the Pacific Northwest.
Kim's wife and two daughters were rescued Monday, nearly a week after the family was reported missing. The search for Kim has focused on a 5-mile stretch of a narrow canyon a few miles from where the Kims' car was found.
The satellite, which is used by the U.S. military for mapping and gathering intelligence, could be rendered useless if the weather is bad, said Brender. The snow and large trees would also make it nearly impossible for a satellite image to pinpoint Kim's location, but it could help authorities plan their search efforts, Brender said.
"We can't see through clouds," he said. "If it's cloudy, we wouldn't be able to get back for three days."
The forecast for the area around Grants Pass, Ore., where Kim is believed to be lost, calls for early morning fog.
Another concern, said Brender, is where to send the pictures. The company only flies the satellite and doesn't employ analysts to comb the photos. Brender said his company was notified by a concerned citizen interested in helping to find Kim.
"We need to be in contact with someone involved in the search so we know where to send the images," Brender said.
Brender declined to state what the cost was to the company to "retask" a satellite.
"We're doing it because it's the right thing to do," he said.
See more CNET content tagged:
satellite, Oregon, card
I, for one, am happy CNET and who ever else wants to help is using every tool and trick they can think of to find James Kim alive. Even if somebody thinks hiring wizards or psychics will help find Mr. Kim, it's OK by me. I'm sure his wife and daughters would agree.
Hoping for the best.
society's help in any way. To take a noble gesture and attack it in
such a way is truly a sad statement about the posters.
Is it a possible play for publicity? Who cares. If this helps, fantastic.
I hope and pray that James is found safe.
As the guy said, it's the right thing to do.
But it makes me sad that something like this prob. wouldn't
happen to me if **I** were gone missing in the wild? Or maybe it
would?
MRS
Won't hurt anybody, might help someone and makes the 'bystanders' feel less powerless. If its technically possible, Do it.
It's not a matter of letting the public to help, it's a matter of logistics and what your machine can really do.
My coworker here has a small IKONOS imagery she is working with and I mean its small compared to the regular stuff. Her computer is near top of the line, 4gig memory, 2TB in hard disk and ton of horsepower and she still runs tasks overnight and on the weekend. This stuff is really big.
They could crop it out and try to distribute it, but it almost seems more work then to just let their computers do the job.
With the news that his pants were found, if they are his pants, he is already dead. In the later stages of hypothermia a person becomes for all practical purposes an idiot. You lose coordination and reasoning and will stumble around like a happy drunk while shedding most of your clothes. The notion that this man shed his pants to use a a marker is just plain stupid and made only to somehow mollify the fact he is no longer alive and give the family and searchers false hope.
While the event is a tragedy it is time to face reality, he did a foolish thing in leaving the vehicle and heading out on foot improperly dressed and paid the ultimate price for that foolishness.
But that's the whole point! We are not directly involved in the search and rescue, so it's not for us to say whether or not it is too late, nor whether or not this satellite will be helpful. But I applaud the company that made this equipment available, in the hopes that it may help in some way.
Yes, it may be too late, or the weather may not cooperate, or the location may not be conducive to finding him from above, or a hundred other maybes. But when we start making judgements from afar, especially discouraging and insulting ones, that's going too far.
Of course the ultimate goal is to find his remains, a first grader could make that assumption. Heck, even you picked up on that.
It was only 3 miles from where he started at around 8 in the morning...wouldn't it have been around 35-40 degrees by then? If I imagine taking a walk in 40 degree weather, even with no gloves or hat, 3 miles would be about an hour,it's hard to imagine that this would be enough to cause hypothermia? Does this question make sense?
And so, I know hypothermia causes disorientation and confusion and he may have gone down there because of that...but it seems like it might have been too soon for that advanced stage of hypothermia...maybe he went down into the gorge for some other reason...to get a drink? Or thought he saw something?
I'll look forward to hearing from those of you who know more about this. Our whole family has been thinking & praying about the Kim's since we heard about it.
If you answered winter you are wrong.
Most people catch hypothermia because there is a profound disbelief that you are getting it because it can be so warm out. Most cases up here tend to be just above freezing, +1 to +5 Celscius or about 40 for Americans.
You don't realize you are slipping away and simply do. Whereas in winter it is cold and you know it and are more mentally prepared for it.
As for his 3 mile walk, yes I believe he could have developed it already, but to be honest, I have no idea. I need to know how fast he was moving, the exact temperature, how much he ate and so on.
which it can occur is only dependent on how fast your body
loses heat. That could take only minutes (water immersion) or
could take longer. Core temperature is the key factor, and so
how fast you lose heat and drop your core temperature is
dependent on factors like how you dress, whether you are wet,
exposed to wind, your exertion level, your energy reserves, and
other factors. Predicting when someone reaches a point of
disorientation is almost impossible. However, if you find
yourself shivering violently, and with extremities (hands, feet)
that seemingly have stiffened up and become almost useless,
you are into early hypothermia. Tunnel vision, disorientation,
listlessness, are later symptoms. Hypothermia is possible even
in 10-degree Celsius (50 degree Fahrenheit) temperatures, but
can be accelerated greatly by colder temperatures, dampness,
winds, and lack of suitable insulation around critical heat loss
areas (head and neck, under arms, inner thighs and groin.
Really, if you are dressed lightly for car travel, you are not likely
well protected for a protracted hike in the wilderness. Often,
people perish when they leave their abandoned vehicle at the
side of a highway in a storm, instead of sheltering from the
winds in the relative safety of their vehicle, which will always be
be bigger and easier to spot than them.
This is a great opportunity to use the collective intelligence of the huge number of people following the story and hoping for a safe return.
Please post the images online and have a forum where users can take on sections to analyze and report back.
John
Seriously, I hope they find him, but if he's in a cave, which is the best place he could be, and someone here thinks, no satellite will find him.
I am adding prayers for clear skies over western Oregon and a quick rescue for James Kim. This is totally selfish of me because I enjoy his reviews and want to see more!
- How to help the James Kim family
- by meyersm December 8, 2006 1:27 PM PST
- For more information on how to help the Kim family click the link below:
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(45 Comments)http://news.com.com/2100-1028-6142209.html