Open Skies Treaty

[Mountain Man]

Hence, the drones.

(But I love it when MaGee sits there in NCIS headquarters and retasks a satellite* to watch somebody's car driving up I95, triggering every red light camera and mom&pop grocery store security camera)





*please don't tell me MaGee can't actually do that!

I saw a movie once were they "flipped" a security camera image to see what the suspect was hiding behind his back!

[rogue06]

I saw a movie once were they "flipped" a security camera image to see what the suspect was hiding behind his back!

Or Blade Runner where they could zoom in and see around corners in a two-dimensional photograph.

[Leonhard]

I remember reading years ago that military satellites could not only tell you there was a man sitting on a park bench reading a newspaper but could actually show you the newspaper's date. Perhaps an exaggeration, but it's generally the case that military technology is far more advanced than the general public is aware of.

I very much doubt that. What I know of military technology shows its typically the opposite. But even if those satellites really did have some extra highly specced tech in them, the military still has to operate against the laws of physics. And for a mirror optic of a certain diameter you can only resolve so much. We also know pretty much how big the military spy sats are, and they're comparable to the Hubble Space Telescope (only pointing down and with near-field optics). That's roughly 2.4 meters wide.

They've got a resolution power sufficient to detect the motion of individual humans.

If they were to read the print on a newspaper they'd have to be wider than two football fields joined together, and you'd be able to see the mirror with your naked eye.

[Leonhard]

Hence, the drones.

Drones can also get way better images.

[Cow Poke]

Drones can also get way better images.

From various angles, at night, real time... and, if authorized, execute.

[Cow Poke]

I very much doubt that. What I know of military technology shows its typically the opposite. But even if those satellites really did have some extra highly specced tech in them, the military still has to operate against the laws of physics. And for a mirror optic of a certain diameter you can only resolve so much. We also know pretty much how big the military spy sats are, and they're comparable to the Hubble Space Telescope (only pointing down and with near-field optics). That's roughly 2.4 meters wide.

They've got a resolution power sufficient to detect the motion of individual humans.

If they were to read the print on a newspaper they'd have to be wider than two football fields joined together, and you'd be able to see the mirror with your naked eye.

Plus the "angle of attack" has to be pretty limited due to altitude.

[Leonhard]

Plus the "angle of attack" has to be pretty limited due to altitude.

Also their heights vary with orbits, so their resolution is also not something you always get to decide. American spy sats are big enough that amateur astronomers can track them and plot their trajectories some have a low point in their orbit and a high point.

Most of the north-south bound satellites that are bright and visible are military spy sats.

[Leonhard]

From various angles, at night, real time... and, if authorized, execute.

They're handy.

[Cow Poke]

Also their heights vary with orbits, so their resolution is also not something you always get to decide. American spy sats are big enough that amateur astronomers can track them and plot their trajectories some have a low point in their orbit and a high point.

Most of the north-south bound satellites that are bright and visible are military spy sats.

To the extent that, in Clinton's presidency, it was known that the terrorist training camps knew the schedules, and, during the appropriate time slots, would have all their military operatiors in the tents or buildings, and maybe some guys playing soccer out in the open.

[Leonhard]

To the extent that, in Clinton's presidency, it was known that the terrorist training camps knew the schedules, and, during the appropriate time slots, would have all their military operatiors in the tents or buildings, and maybe some guys playing soccer out in the open.

A lot of people forget they're so huge that you can see them yourself, and amateur astronomers can even manage to snap pictures of them.

[Cow Poke]

A lot of people forget they're so huge that you can see them yourself, and amateur astronomers can even manage to snap pictures of them.

But in the movies, it's no big deal to "retask a satellite" or "reposition" a satellite to zoom in on your intended target! Just move them around the sky like chess pieces.

[rogue06]

But in the movies, it's no big deal to "retask a satellite" or "reposition" a satellite to zoom in on your intended target! Just move them around the sky like chess pieces.

Well there is a lot of off camera red tape getting cut

[Leonhard]

But in the movies, it's no big deal to "retask a satellite" or "reposition" a satellite to zoom in on your intended target! Just move them around the sky like chess pieces.

I like the really old spy sats where they put film roll camera inside a satelitte, had the shutter go off every few seconds at timed intervals. And then the orbit would naturally decay, marines would be dispatched to pick up the satellite and the film would be recovered. The old (and now entirely declassified) Corona program from 1972 did just that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(satellite)

[Cow Poke]

I like the really old spy sats where they put film roll camera inside a satelitte, had the shutter go off every few seconds at timed intervals. And then the orbit would naturally decay, marines would be dispatched to pick up the satellite and the film would be recovered. The old (and now entirely declassified) Corona program from 1972 did just that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(satellite)

Or even the U2 or SR-71 arrangement where the plane would land, and the guys would run out to the plane, unload the huge film pod, and rush it to processing for "nearly real time" surveillance...

[Mountain Man]

If they were to read the print on a newspaper they'd have to be wider than two football fields joined together, and you'd be able to see the mirror with your naked eye.

Stupid physics always getting in the way of cool story... mumble mumble...