What a sock-puppet can teach us about satellites.....

Ground recon from earth orbit is becoming more valuable for ecology research, but its military importance is the topic here.

Ground-level imaging in optical wavelengths has resolution of about 5 cm now. That is not secret, but if there are 2-cm birds up there or planned, that would be. Getting ever tighter on fixed objects may not be the most important goal, because they are not the only targets. Things under construction or moving can be important. Repeated imaging is needed, and multiple satellites help. Here I suppose centimeters matter more.

Imaging at longer infrared wavelengths was a plot element in a Tom Clancy novel and movie. What is actually ‘up there’ in terms of countries and capabilities is secret. But if you want to know where people are, or where internal-combustion-engine vehicles are (or were ), this is the way. Especially at night. One needs a different billion(ish) dollar telescope for that.

Those function where clouds are absent as noted above. Not a problem for longer-wavelength observing, otherwise known as radio. I dare to guess that signals intelligence is actually more important for spying. It is certainly different. The largest ‘orbiting radio telescope’ may have unfolded a 100-meter diameter reflector. Snuffling around today, I see indications that it looked at a different satellite’s radio activity, not at ground based things. Here overall we may suppose that a few big-budget countries can detect radio activity on earth with amazing time, space and wavelength resolutions. But beyond that ???

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Spy satellite images with about 1-meter resolution from early times are getting declassified. This is of great help to ecology (yeah you guessed I’d circle back) in knowing how extents of ice fields and forests have changed over decades.

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Did the sock puppet say anything interesting?

 

One counter:


Another counter:


Then there are anti-radiation weapons:

Geostationary is distant but not impossible.

Bob Wilson

 

A local story to Huntsville is the alleged loss of "Space Command" the ones who would take down those satellites. Good thing Senator Tuberville is injecting himself into a military he never served in has had an effect.

BTW, I got Tuberville's response letter Monday. I'll reply to the Senate leaders that there should be a limit on Senatorial holds: (1) applies only to those who come from their States, or (2) a limit on how many, or (3) holds have a time limit of 3-6 months.

At the same time, put a time limit on how long the Senate has to approve appointments, 3-6 months works for me. Or the time between a Presidential election and taking the office, about 3 months. Failure to vote up or down results in default approval ... like a pocket veto in reverse.

We used to say in the Marines, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way."

Bob Wilson

 

Our country has a long history of correcting abuse and abusers. Someone once said, "Americans will always do the right thing after trying everything else."

Bob Wilson

 

In my working career, I helped build the ground station for two Landsat missions, some NASA image processing, and another satellite system. When there were Cubans in Africa, I joked with my late wife that "Spy satellites found the Cubans by their cigar butts. But they shut them down because they could only detect cigar butts."

There was a rumor that someone tasked a spy satellite to recon the Jonestown murder suicides.

A Tesla owner, I was amused that some took offense at the cabin camera. Yet so many use laptops with cameras and microphones. The Chinese at one time forbid Teslas from their military bases because of the eight external and one cabin camera ... and microphone.

Bob Wilson

 

In the 90s, I worked at a law firm in Hong Kong, right next to what was at first the British military base in the centre of town, and which then became the PLA base. It had its own jetty. I had a lovely view from my desk over the army base and the harbour (until a partner realised, and swapped offices with me).

Anyway, I saw a stealth ship, much like this, pull in to the jetty one day. It left no wake at all. It was a very impressive thing.

It turns out it was in Hong Kong for testing. In spring, when it's often foggy. In the Pearl River Delta, between Hong Kong, Macau, Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, in some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

The Hong Kong-Macau ferry was, at the time, the TurboCat (now I think it's called the TurboJet), a high-speed ferry which carried up to 400 passengers at 45 knots across this shipping lane.

So the PLA stealth ship went out on exercises, in the fog. And the TurboCat took Hong Kongers to Macau for gambling, in the fog. Possibly, in hindsight, not the best idea.

And the TurboCat's radar didn't see the PLA stealth ship. Which, I suppose, means that the stealth ship definitely worked. No-one was killed, but there were a few broken bones, and everyone had to get rescued.