After the statement about Hubble at the very beginning of that video, I knew it was going to be a bullshit sandwich. The Hubble telescope was a no-longer-required, out-of-date-technology, KH-11 reconniasance sattelite that was scheduled for destruction... until someone came up with the brilliant idea to give it to NASA and point it at deep space instead of the earth like the rest of the fleet of KH-11's. It was designed with focal length between 100 and 23000 miles. In other words, it was perfect for watching cars drive around Baltimore, but useless for anything farther away.
That's why they gave that story about having to send another mission up to correct the mirror or lenses or something. They said it was the right shape on Earth's gravity, but in the weightlessness of space it warped just a bit. That seems to match up with why there was a problem. But it could still just be an engineering mistake.
I had a neighbor who worked with spy satellite technology. He once told me they could read the numbers off of a credit card, and that was about 20 years ago.
Wikipedia: "Astronomer Clifford Stoll estimates that such a telescope could resolve up to "a couple inches. Not quite good enough to recognize a face"." Not credit-card numbers, but good enough to count people, and recognize types of weapons and vehicles. You can find a few pics online: you can see the wheels on vehicles, you can make out (but not read) license plates.
Can the military do better? Probably, that space plane is deploying something. But there are some hard limits due to atmospheric turbulence. Facial recognition isn't going to happen. Only pics, no videos (or extremely short), because of the orbital speeds.
The story I heard when I was in the Air Force back in the 80's was of a briefing on intelligence satellite capabilities. They asked, "Who drove here in the blue mustang?" A hand came up. "You smoke Camels. There's a pack on the dashboard."
After the statement about Hubble at the very beginning of that video, I knew it was going to be a bullshit sandwich. The Hubble telescope was a no-longer-required, out-of-date-technology, KH-11 reconniasance sattelite that was scheduled for destruction... until someone came up with the brilliant idea to give it to NASA and point it at deep space instead of the earth like the rest of the fleet of KH-11's. It was designed with focal length between 100 and 23000 miles. In other words, it was perfect for watching cars drive around Baltimore, but useless for anything farther away.
ReplyDeleteWell now ... I wouldn't go that far. Worked on both way back when. On the other hand, you didn't mention the shuttle design ...
DeletePS: This is only what they're letting you know.
DeleteThat's why they gave that story about having to send another mission up to correct the mirror or lenses or something. They said it was the right shape on Earth's gravity, but in the weightlessness of space it warped just a bit.
DeleteThat seems to match up with why there was a problem. But it could still just be an engineering mistake.
I had a neighbor who worked with spy satellite technology. He once told me they could read the numbers off of a credit card, and that was about 20 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThat's a falsehood!
DeleteIn the 80s we knew if you were eating a hamburger or a hotdog.
DeleteI wonder if they can see my starfish.
ReplyDeleteGo’in outside, lets test it
Balloons do an far better job.
ReplyDeleteChutes Magoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhvzMGDzt70
ReplyDeleteWhat's troubling is the new ones that have gone up. I can't day anythong else.
ReplyDeleteI flip off the sky once in a while just in case they're looking
ReplyDeleteYou ever get a call on your cell phone saying: We saw that.
DeleteWikipedia: "Astronomer Clifford Stoll estimates that such a telescope could resolve up to "a couple inches. Not quite good enough to recognize a face"." Not credit-card numbers, but good enough to count people, and recognize types of weapons and vehicles. You can find a few pics online: you can see the wheels on vehicles, you can make out (but not read) license plates.
ReplyDeleteCan the military do better? Probably, that space plane is deploying something. But there are some hard limits due to atmospheric turbulence. Facial recognition isn't going to happen. Only pics, no videos (or extremely short), because of the orbital speeds.
The story I heard when I was in the Air Force back in the 80's was of a briefing on intelligence satellite capabilities. They asked, "Who drove here in the blue mustang?" A hand came up. "You smoke Camels. There's a pack on the dashboard."
ReplyDelete