On Dutch national TV, about lost flight Malaysian Airlines MH370 and satellites

My previous blog post "Satellites and Malaysian Airlines flight MH370" garnered some attention. I was called by an editor of 'Nieuwsuur' ("News Hour"), a major news show on Dutch national TV channel 2, if I was willing to explain something about it in an item on their news show (broadcast nationwide daily at 22:00 CET).

So yesterday afternoon I was visited by an interviewer and a cameraman, for an item broadcast yesterday evening. Below is a video of the item (it is in Dutch of course): I appear at 3:08 and again at 4:25 in the video.


In the item I briefly talk about the use of SBIRS to look for a mid-air explosion; and that I expect the US military to use their optical reconnaissance satellites to image every suitable landing strip within operational reach of the aircraft.

Other experts in the item are the Volkel Air Force base commander and fighter pilot Peter Tankink and TU University Aerospace researcher and pilot Alexander in 't Veld.

This is the second time I appear in Nieuwsuur: a year ago I was live in their broadcast in an item on the Chelyabinsk meteorite/asteroid impact (see my post here).

On national television about 2012 DA14 and the Russian super meteor

Yesterday was a crazy day, that started as soon as I woke up, opened my e-mail and saw the messages about the Russian super meteor event. Next, my telephone was red-hot from phone calls, and my e-mail and twitter flowed over from private messages by persons and news media seeking information.

I got two TV crews visiting me, plus a radio reporter, and I turned down a couple of other media requests.

At 22:00 (10 pm) Dutch time I was Live in the broadcast of 'Nieuwsuur', a prominent news program on Dutch national television channel Nederland 2. Through a satellite connection, I was interviewed by the news anchors in the studio, while I was standing next to my telescope in my courtyard. The topics were both the Russian event and the 2012 DA14 asteroid fly-by.

 TV van in the street

screenshots from the live Nieuwsuur broadcast

The video (in Dutch) can be seen here. It starts directly with my item.

I was also interviewed by a regional TV and radio station, TV West. The video of that TV appearance (again in Dutch of course) can be viewed here [link fixed: it initially erroneously linked to the Nieuwsuur item]: my item starts at 3:40 in the video.

TV West filming my explanation

Screenshots from the TV West broadcast

Radio reporter interviewing me