Bradley R Townson
Captain Bradley R. Townson, USAF, was a researcher at the Air Force Institute of Technology located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He authored research on space-based satellite tracking and characterization of Fast Walkers — unidentified objects detected entering or leaving Earth's atmosphere.
| Role | USAF Captain; researcher at Air Force Institute of Technology |
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2008 Fast Walker Research Paper
Townson authored "Space-Based Satellite Tracking and Characterization Utilizing Non-Imaging Passive Sensors" in 2008, a study examining the detection and orbit determination of anomalous objects tracked by Defense Support Program (DSP) ballistic missile warning satellites.
The paper states: "Satellite based sensors looking down at the Earth's surface occasionally observe reflected light from an object passing through the image which is moving too fast relative to the background of the image to be located within the atmosphere. These objects are commonly called Fast Walkers."
Research Findings
Townson's study revisited earlier 1972 orbital analysis attempts and sought to determine the orbit or movement of Fast Walkers detected by geosynchronous DSP satellites. Like previous research efforts, the study found that determining the precise range to Fast Walker targets remained an unsolvable problem with existing methodologies.
However, the paper confirmed several critical facts:
- DSP satellites continue to detect Fast Walkers on a regular basis
- These objects move too fast to be atmospheric phenomena
- Ground-based sensors cannot detect these objects, only space-based infrared systems
Significance
Townson's 2008 paper represents official US Air Force acknowledgment — published through a military research institution — that satellites routinely detect objects that cannot be explained as atmospheric phenomena, meteors, or known spacecraft. The paper was among the limited documents released to John Greenewald in response to FOIA requests, demonstrating that even non-classified research on Fast Walkers confirms their existence while avoiding disclosure of specific detection events or data.