America's biggest rocket launches top-secret spy satellite

[Splurgenxs]

if id wager a guess,

a satellite with a mini supercomputer on board with very powerful intrinsic algorithms that can monitor a big array (vector3) of land mass under it and automatically lock onto required queries ,from facial features to movement patterns.

Im guessing there older sats needed an upgrade. But as far as visual aids go i dont think there has been any substantial breakthrough which is a game changer.

 

[Audio]

if id wager a guess,
a satellite with a mini supercomputer on board with very powerful intrinsic algorithms that can monitor a big array (vector3) of land mass under it and automatically lock onto required queries ,from facial features to movement patterns.

Somewhat related: Revolutionary Object-Tracking Video Software Released as Open Source | TIME.com

In short: some guy made software that identifies and tracks objects in 2011-if you scale what he wrote up on NRO or NSA level, their satellite might aswell be tracking an entire city in real time.

 

[Splurgenxs]

Somewhat related: Revolutionary Object-Tracking Video Software Released as Open Source | TIME.com

In short: some guy made software that identifies and tracks objects in 2011-if you scale what he wrote up on NRO or NSA level, their satellite might aswell be tracking an entire city in real time.

Exactly , the stuff is nothing new ,but requires tremendous processing power . The probable bottleneck would have been the raw Tflops on board and i guess they upgrade it this time around. Apart from the the new software would /could track more precisely as well. Its all speculation ,but i dont think they wouldhave come up with something extraordinary ,just an upgrade.

 

[Ulysses]

I'm sure soon we will be reading about IRAN's Super spy satellite now from PressTV

 

[Banana]

Make and model? USA had the ability to read license plates on cars from space in the sixties. This new satellite has classified abilities. Make and model story is only cover BS.

BS.

Even today no country has that capability.

 

[Argus Panoptes]

BS.

Even today no country has that capability.

There are many commercial providers that will go down to 50 cm resolution for images that the public can buy, and even their satellites are prevented by US law from going lower than that even though the satellites are more capable of that easily. The military grade satellites are indeed capable of much sharper resolutions. No doubt about it.

 

[Banana]

There are many commercial providers that will go down to 50 cm resolution for images that the public can buy, and even their satellites are prevented by US law from going lower than that even though the satellites are more capable of that easily. The military grade satellites are indeed capable of much sharper resolutions. No doubt about it.

Let's talk about 2013.

The best images commercially available are 0.5 metres by GEOEYE-1.

That would be surpassed by the Cartosat-3.

ISRO plans a new high-resolution earth satellite - The Hindu

Currently, GeoEye-1 produces the highest resolution earth images taken by a commercial satellite. The American spacecraft, launched in September 2008, is capable of taking panchromatic images with 0.41 metre resolution. WorldView-2, another satellite operated by the same company, DigitalGlobe, offers a best resolution of 0.46 metres. However, in accordance with U.S. regulations, commercially released images from these satellites are degraded to 0.5 metre resolution.

DigitalGlobe plans to launch WorldView-3 next year, which will supply images with a resolution of 0.31 metres. Cartosat-3’s camera would better that performance. In the words of one expert, this satellite's images could allow a scooter to be distinguished from a car.

US prohibits sale of imagery less than 0.5m.

LAND REMOTE SENSING POLICY

 

[TruthSeeker]

What is the significance of putting a spy satellite in "polar orbit'? Does a polar orbit give you 100% earth coverage opportunity, whereas non-polar orbits cannot see the earth surface above and below their maximum orbital latitudes? Or is there something else special about polar orbits?

 

[Splurgenxs]

What is the significance of putting a spy satellite in "polar orbit'? Does a polar orbit give you 100% earth coverage opportunity, whereas non-polar orbits cannot see the earth surface above and below their maximum orbital latitudes? Or is there something else special about polar orbits?

Over the day, a polar orbit Sat will cross every longitude in its travels from pole to pole. If a sat needs to observe everything and not miss out on any patch of land on earth the polar orbit is said to be preferred.

 

[Anubis]

What is the significance of putting a spy satellite in "polar orbit'? Does a polar orbit give you 100% earth coverage opportunity, whereas non-polar orbits cannot see the earth surface above and below their maximum orbital latitudes? Or is there something else special about polar orbits?

What Splurgenxs said.....in polar orbit the Satellite just needs to orbit....the earth's rotation does the rest.

 

[till death do us party]

funny how more than hundred satellites of the us in space hnd they cudhnt locate usama bin laden for yrs.... :/

 

[Oldman1]

funny how more than hundred satellites of the us in space hnd they cudhnt locate usama bin laden for yrs.... :/

Osama tried really hard but in the end making the fancy compound stood out in Pakistan to the satellites. Go figure.

 

[[Bregs]]

US & Israel are way ahead of others in spy satellites