Satellites can determine long-term patterns of rainfall, vegetation cover, and emissions of greenhouse gases. The initial satellites to be launched were named Discoverer and were used to observe the Earth and take pictures. Why do we use approximate in the present and estimated in the past? Many of the details about this class of satellites remain classified, but it is known that there are several of these overhead at any given time. Could you be more specific in your question? And they have a resolution of 5 to 6 inches, meaning they can distinguish an object that small, but no smaller, on the ground. Data: Approximately 6 inches on current satellites. Los Angeles Times. The can read cigarette packs. If the building is deep enough underground, then even the most powerful spy sat. A level 9 means, an image can contain a clear view of bolts. The best resolution of an American spy satellite, achieved by an older series no longer in use, was reputed to be about 2 1/2 inches. There are things they can't monitor. “It is absolutely inevitable that we will see conflict move into space,” Michael Schmitt, a professor and space war expert at the University of Exeter in the U.K., told The Guardian in April. The interferometer arrays you speak of are fixed earthside installations. Military satellites -- mostly for reconnaissance, ... "If the satellite can see less than 0.3 meters, the satellite will be deemed illegal or only usable by the defense industry. Astronomers have determined it likely came from USA 224, a K-11 spy satellite. @Martin the story is oft told but entirely false. It is probably the most current book on wide area persistent surveillance (WAPS). What makes you think this is all about imagery? Can an electron and a proton be artificially or naturally merged to form a neutron? Day); now saved at http://www.c4i.org/spysats.html, (Dwayne Day is a space policy analyst and historian who lives in Northern Virginia. A large satellite traveling in low earth orbit is easy to kill when a war begins, so you may want a smaller and less eye-catching one. As a GeoEye spokesman noted today, his company has already committed more than $30 million dollars to the next generation satellite, known as GeoEye 2, and ITT is already grinding its 1.1 meter mirror. fly wheels)? This page is listing the Military satellites. ;), @Martin Scharrer: the basic physics of optics are well-known. In addition, commercial reconnaissance satellites are finding many military uses, enabling countries that cannot afford their own satellites to buy photos of their adversaries. France's defense minister painted a picture of cameras, machine guns and lasers on "sensitive satellites," able to watch for threats and then fight back. Now, I know that such a statement is extremely unrealistic. What are the odds of an upcoming cival war? First off, some results from http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/JeannelleLouis.shtml While the K-11 was first launched in 1976, USA 224 was launched in 2011 as probably a Block IV representing the best the US has to offer. And while they cannot hover over an area and provide real-time images, other “assets” such as unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones, can do that. Is it possible for planetary rings to be perpendicular (or near perpendicular) to the planet's orbit around the host star? Plotting datapoints found in data given in a .txt file. But that does not tell us the whole story. Who would win in a war between the state of Georgia and the country of Georgia. You must assume that all movement is tracked as well as all digital data transactions over networks. What are the earliest inventions to store and release energy (e.g. Was there ever any actual Spaceballs merchandise? Another problem for spy satellites is they are built for political/military purposes and therefore face military threat. Langbroek was asked about what foreign military satellites might have observed the firing of that missile. I'm not certain that is feasible with current technology. Is it possible COVID-19 is actually a weapon used for biological warfare? The first military use of satellites was for reconnaissance. In addition, from the Washington Post article ("A LOOK AT Spy Satellites & Hollywood" By Dwayne A. I don't think it too far fetched to say that image resolution technology and optics have come a long way since the 80's, though there are undoubtedly physical and other constraints, I would think if they are not currently able to reading license plates size lettering they are pretty damn close. how long are a rabbits legs? He is the editor of "Eye in the Sky" (Smithsonian Institution Press), a book about early spy satellites.). Are most people in the US air force pilots? The first formal military satellite projects were made and launched in the US in the 1950s. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22046019/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/us-plans-next-gen-spy-satellite-program/. The real answer you're looking for is classified. Join Yahoo Answers and get 100 points today. site design / logo © 2021 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. They intern sell or give the data way to several other countries. Russia, China, and a few others track all our satellites in space. Two other satellites are radar-imaging, built by Lockheed Martin in Watertown, Colo. Their resolution is about 3 feet. 7 June 2001. long enough to touch the ground. won't be able to see anything, but seeing through buildings isn't a problem. rev 2021.1.8.38287, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Skeptics Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us, Is technology really advanced enough to monitor. Spy Satellites: Still a Few Steps Ahead. Select any Military satellite listed to learn additional details, perform live tracking or see satellite's passes visible from your location. Note that the effective resolution might be increased with interferometry (, @horatio - you'd need an array of satellites for that, which are capable of being 100% location-synchronized. By BRYAN BENDER . Data: Type KH-11 Spy Satellites, 10 cm/4 inch resolution; KH-7 -1966 2" Resolution. Yes, there are limitations to what U.S. spy satellites can see. Guides to the night sky. There have been several projects in the US including Corona, Canyon… Commercial communications satellites are particularly useful and cheap. Location: Redmond (47.67°N; 122.12°W) Live World Map of Satellite Positions ... Click on satellites to see full details. But given Hubble as an upper limit for the lenses we can put in orbit, getting the resolution to read a book from orbit is way beyond us. (Photo Included). What and how much to practice as a composer. To achieve this ‘big picture’ view, NOAA’s satellites are built to see things like storm clouds over vast ocean waters, dust storms over thousands of miles, and changes in ice, surface temperature, vegetation and sea level. The resolution has been estimated to be at least 10 cm (about 4 inches), possibly better since the image is a photo of the satellite image. To show pre-dawn passes, select the day before and then scroll down to the bottom of that night's passes. Would you please provide the latest world nuclear targets map? I'd be a bit suprised if our best optics of today had that capability, let alone soviet technology of that era. How to find out if a preprint has been already published. And smoke, haze, smog or clouds would all reduce the quality of the resolution, as would the distance required to see the license plate from an angle. By Sarah Parcak Dr. Parcak is an archaeologist and remote-sensing expert. if they couldn't see the ground what use would they have? The US military uses a system which is noted on wikipedia called the NIIRS. Are MAVs (micro air vehicles) a legitimate future possibility? By default, satellites are only shown if they reach a maximum brightness of 4th magnitude. Please note that in addition to classified proprietary tech, the modern movenet is towards using commercial capabilities. Just to add to what DVK said, the latest 'supposedly' advanced image satellite was launched in January 2011, dubbed USA-224. But if a country is operating far from its borders or has global interests, they are a n… Are 1 to 4 tons of coal required to create only one solar panel? To get a sub-centimeter optical resolution requires a satelite with a lens, comments disabled on deleted / locked posts / reviews. Tighter resolutions let analysts see details that allow them to accurately identify missiles and other targets. ARIANESPACE, WITH RUSSIAN SOYUZ, LAUNCHES CSO-2 FRENCH MILITARY SATELLITE - The 114th and final orbital launch of 2020 saw a Soyuz ST-A rocket loft the CSO-2 Earth observation satellite for the French Ministry of Defence. ", From http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077885/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/spy-satellites-enter-new-dimension/. As with the secretive X-37B spaceplane program—and most other military programs for that matter—very little is known about the KH-11 series of reconnaissance satellites. Still have questions? Just another example that privacy is dead. They could read vehicle license plates and discern facial expressions back in the 90's. Why does Steven Pinker say that “can’t” + “any” is just as much of a double-negative as “can’t” + “no” is in “I can’t get no/any satisfaction”? [. The Vexcel images are clearer than that. Why won't Democrats join me in getting Biden to close many of our Military bases around the world and get out of these senseless wars..? Are Germans buying anti-rape “safety shorts”? A world map of the positions of satellites above the Earth's surface, and a planetarium view showing where they appear in the night sky. I can only imagine how much better they are now. It's also possible the image has been digitally altered meaning the real resolution could be worse than 10 cm. they can see ALL THE WAY to the ground. The KH-11, during the 80's , had a 2.4-meter mirror with a resolution of 6 inches. Are military spy satellites as advanced as people think they are? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA-224. Do I have to include my pronouns in a course outline? I realize that, as far as spy satellites are concerned, many things could be unknown because of their classified nature. A spy satellite can see airplanes crossing the border of a country, the polluting of a river by local companies, and the presence of illegal marijuana fields. Is it my fitness level or my single-speed bicycle? Even if a satellite had the right angle on the license plate, it wouldn't be able to make out the letters and numbers. The best ones are supposed to be Keyhole-class KH-7 (2.5") followed by KH-11 (4-6"). Some military satellites can still see even smaller things. By 2011, that is expected to narrow to nearly 10 inches. Around the world, military operations are increasingly using commercial satellites to accomplish their missions. The flight patterns of spy satellites are well know to most nation states. Spy satellites can pick up infrared and ultraviolet as well. http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/JeannelleLouis.shtml, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077885/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/spy-satellites-enter-new-dimension/, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_interferometer, Universe Today: Thanks to Trump, We’ve Got a Better Idea of the Capabilities of US Surveillance Satellites, Scott Manley: What A Tweet Tells Us About US Spy Satellites, http://www.iipl.fudan.edu.cn/~zhangjp/publications/ICME2009.pdf. This is not for satellites but other imagery sources. 21 September 1999. I don't know but it's kind of scary to think about. DigitalGlobe, the leader in satellite imagery, offers public images that display detail at 30 centimeters-per-pixel. It only takes a minute to sign up. So we can probably assume that the actual state of the art is better than the KH-11. Check out Google Earth... that is what is available publicly for free. It also tracks all your movement. It can also be used to find the location of suspected smugglers. Are blue light filters, not blue lights, on phones and computer screens harmful to sleep? Trump's recent tweet of a photo of a high resolution satellite image of an Iranian launch failure has added some concrete data on US spy satellite capabilities. (Resolution of a Spy Satellite, The Physics Factbook™; Edited by Glenn Elert -- Written by his students). In April, a satellite will be launched with 16-inch resolution. Can an exiting US president curtail access to Air Force One from the new president? I presume that these resolutions imply a stationary object? And on what scale? http://www.iipl.fudan.edu.cn/~zhangjp/publications/ICME2009.pdf, Eyes in the Sky: The Secret Rise of Gorgon Stare and How It Will Watch Us All Hardcover – June 18, 2019. Unless you've been specifically targeted, they are not "probably watching you, even as we speak" with satellites. Just another example that privacy is dead. But do such statements have some truth in them? Satellites can shoot with infrared and other cameras that operate in other parts of the light spectrum. The black and white images are used by the military and civilian communities. While satellites cannot read license plates, they can tell if a car has one. I was just wondering exactly how close can modern U.S. military spy satellites photograph? Are nano diamond batteries a breakthrough in battery technology? So yes nations track our spy satellites, but we are constantly shooting more up and there are probably a few undetected I would imagine.***. It seems to be based on the Lockheed KH-11 which was manufactured between 1976-1990. Data: According to an estimate by the private Federation of American Scientists (FAS), three satellites operated by the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) have resolutions as sharp as 10 centimeters (3.93 inches) -- in other words, the satellites can discern a softball-sized object from several hundred miles away. Source: Massive New Top Secret Spy-Satellite Program to Cost up to $25 Billion. Spy satellites have different resolutions. Memo to future filmmakers: License plates cannot be read from satellites. The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS (stylized in capital letters in its logo), is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. Satellite has been utilized during the war period to assist with tracking the whereabouts of the enemies and actions while also keeping in touch with the superiors and soldiers. While it might be able to take images at high resolution, it can only see a very, very, very small portion of the Earth at a time. The satellites for which there is publically available info** are definitely incapable of resolutions supporting reading written text or even car license plates; nor distinguish facial features. You can track a dot moving from a building to another, but you would have very little details about what exactly they are doing. You don't need satellites to have a drone over a city which can pretty much see everything at once. Sorry. Certainly satellites can monitor things on the planet from space, because they do. The satellites make those crimes and other criminal activities more difficult. ... — A leading industry advocate organization outlined the changes it would like to see for contractors in a final defense bill. I wonder could one leak a time schedule so when a satellite will pass over an area people could stay is side so as not be photographed without their consent. Though it is more likely to be based on a newer version ( sometimes called the KH-13) the KH-11 was the last numbered satellite before they started naming them randomly, so that the actual names are most likely still classified. You won't have to necessarily read a license plate number as you can literally watch a car pull out of a driveway and trace it as it goes across town. of course the conspiracy theorist (and in this case they will for once be correct) will claim that data on the actual spy sats is classified and not available. The bulk of the article talks about cancellation of Boeing's Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) program. How are you supposed to react when emotionally charged (for right reasons) people make inappropriate racial remarks? You won't have to necessarily read a license plate number as you can literally watch a car pull out of a driveway and trace it as it goes across town. Source: Satellites System Overview Articles. Skeptics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for scientific skepticism. They can monitor areas in real time if there's a satellite overhead, and the cloud cover/weather permits it. Three are “visible light” satellites, the most recent of which resemble the Hubble Space Telescope and were built by the same contractor at the same Lockheed Martin facility in Sunnyvale, Calif. Was text messaging originally developed for deaf people? They can monitor areas in real time if there's a satellite overhead, and the cloud cover/weather permits it. Aerial surveillance of cities is now possible that tracks thousands of objects simultaneously and stores data so that one can go forward and backwards in time to trace such things as vehicle routes. They can see all the way to the ground. Are low-spec computer parts just faulty high-spec computer parts? This doesn't mean that they can 'see' everything, but they can see some things. You can sign in to vote the answer. Is it as close as a resolution of 10m can they monitor areas in real-time does anyone know? While they cannot tell a mullah by the length of his beard, they can help analysts figure out how many people are chanting along with him at a street demonstration. 25.7 kubriks per square gram? Is that close enough? America Online: Path: Spy Satellites. They can read the warning label on a pack of cigarettes. The rest covers what replaced it: U.S. commercial satellites now have better than two-foot resolution, meaning each pixel in a digital image spans 24 inches. 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In real-time does anyone know oft told but entirely false tech, the modern movenet is towards commercial!