A nuclear detonation produces a distinctive optical signature known as a double-flash: a brief, intense first flash, a brief darkness, then a longer second flash. This pattern has never been reproduced by any natural phenomenon. A satellite detects this exact pattern over a remote ocean. The government's official panel concludes the signal might have been caused by a meteoroid striking the satellite. A junior analyst objects that one piece of evidence alone is enough to reject the meteoroid hypothesis entirely. The analyst is not referring to the optical signal itself. What evidence rules out the meteoroid explanation, and why?