Niner Lima Charlie wrote:
In the US News today
The US Pentagon reported that the satellite saw two heat events, one while the airplane was at altitude, and one upon impact with the ground.
"There is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in luggage or somewhere on the plane," the official, who is familiar with the latest U.S. intelligence analysis of the crash said today.
If accurate, this strikes me as important. Previously there has been talk of
a (single) thermal event. Well, there was obviously a thermal event when the forward airframe and wings hit the desert - it's hard to think that all that fire damage occurred in flight. And if there was only one thermal event, that would argue for in-flight structural failure rather than an in-flight explosion, however caused. "More than one thermal events" is - if true - genuine news. And may be in and of itself sufficient data for assorted governments to presume an attack on the plane until they can be convinced otherwise.