tagged w/ Spy Satellite
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The largest rocket ever launched from the West Coast went into space Thursday afternoon carrying a secret "national security" satellite, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California announced.The 23-story tall Delta IV rocket blasted off on schedule at 1:10 p.m. PT (4:10 p.m. ET). With 2 million pounds of thrust -- 33 times the output of the Hoover Dam -- it delivered into orbit a satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government agency that oversees the nation's satellites.
LINK : http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/01/20/rocket.launch/index.html?hpt=T2The largest rocket ever launched from the West Coast went into space Thursday... more
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Was it a boat? Was it a plane? A bit of both in fact. The Ekranoplan was one of the more obscure products of the fight for technological supremacy in the Cold War. Nigel Paterson, who joined Top Gear presenter James May for a test "flight", recounts its secret history.
In September 1966 an American spy satellite flew over a Soviet naval base on the Caspian Sea and took a series of photographs. This being the height of the Cold War, the results created quite a stir among the American intelligence community, because they showed an object, more than 100m long with inexplicably stubby, square wings, quite unlike anything they had seen before.
Their first guess was that this was a conventional aeroplane, possibly a seaplane, but one that was incomplete and much bigger than any aircraft the US had.
But when the pictures were examined more closely, intelligence analysts calculated that, even if completed, it would actually fly really badly. This, coupled with the position of the engines, located well forward of the wing, made them realise what they were looking at was something entirely different. They had stumbled on one of the most top secret military projects of the Soviet era. The object was soon dubbed the Caspian Sea Monster.
What they were looking at was, in fact, an Ekranoplan; a wing in ground effect or WIG craft designed to fly at very high speed a few metres over the top of the sea. It sounds not unlike a hovercraft. But where a hovercraft floats on a skirt of air, the Ekranoplan sits clean above the surface and relies on a well known, if little understood aerodynamic phenomenon called "ground-effect".
In very simple terms the wing produces a dynamic cushion of air when it's close to the ground and the Ekranoplan effectively rides upon this. It's the same effect that pelicans use when flying low over the sea and it's a remarkably efficient way of flying, actually increasing lift by as much as 40%. All of which means the Ekranoplan was far more efficient than conventional aeroplanes.
Was it a boat? Was it a plane? A bit of both in fact. The Ekranoplan was one of the... more
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Let the tracking begin!
Excerpts from company's web site:
GeoEye is the premier provider of geospatial information for the national security community, strategic partners, resellers and commercial customers to help them better map, measure and monitor the world. The Company is recognized as the industry's trusted imagery expert for delivering reliable service and the exceptional quality of its imagery products and solutions. It operates a constellation of Earth imaging satellites, mapping aircraft and has an international network of ground stations, a robust imagery archive, and advanced imagery processing capabilities for developing innovative geospatial products and solutions.
This sub-meter ground resolution means GeoEye-1 will be able to discern an object on the ground approximately 16 inches in size and map it to within 3 meters of its true location, using both multispectral imagery and panchromatic imagery.
GeoEye-1 will make 15 orbits per day flying at an altitude of 423 miles with an orbital velocity of about 16,800 mi/hr. Its sun-synchronous orbit allows it to pass over a given area at about 10:30 a.m. local time every day. Given its altitude and sun-synchronous orbit, field of view and superior resolution GeoEye-1 can “revisit” any point on the globe every three days or sooner, depending upon the required look angle.
Here is a list of use for their products in respective order:
Defense
National and Homeland Security
Air and Marine Transportation
Oil and Gas
Energy
Mining
Mapping and Location-based Services
State and Local Government
Insurance and Risk Management
Agriculture
Natural Resources and Environmental Monitoring
Excerpt from FAQ page:
Q. What about the imagery 24-hour hold rule for space pictures better than IKONOS?
A. After a lengthy U.S. Government interagency review, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) notified commercial imagery providers that the 24-hour hold rule that was required for imagery at a resolution better than .82-meter is no longer in place. On June 29, 2007, GeoEye’s commercial remote sensing license was modified to reflect this change. This means that GeoEye will be able to sell imagery as soon as possible after it has been captured.
What do you think about this?
Don't think you aren't being monitored. It's is just so far removed, you just don't notice it.
Good luck fellow citizens.
Ride on!
Let the tracking begin!
Excerpts from company's web site:
GeoEye is the... more
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Spy satellites may soon be able to identify someone from space by looking at their shadow, using a new computer programme that analyses the way they walk.
By looking at the way the person's shadows fall on the ground, the computer then identifies them (providing the way they walk is on file) using a technique called gait analysis, which relies on the fact that it's very difficult to disguise your walking style.
Presently it's still almost impossible to identify people from images taken from space - either because of the low quality or because the snaps tend to be of the tops of heads.
Critics of the new technique suggest weather or a lack of shadow in certain conditions may hinder the process somewhat.
Spy satellites may soon be able to identify someone from space by looking at their... more
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richjm
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added this
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3 years ago
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When the Pentagon ordered a Navy ship to shoot down a crippled U.S. spy satellite last February, it claimed the operation was necessary to prevent a harmful fuel from being dispersed in the atmosphere. At the time, critics charged that the Bush administration was using the toxic fuel as an excuse to demonstrate missile-defense and antisatellite capabilities.
Now, there is new evidence that the critics were very likely right.
Astrophysicist Yousaf Butt obtained U.S. government documents showing that NASA's own analysis concluded that the satellite's fuel tank was expected to burn up completely during re-entry—even though NASA probably overestimated the tank's chances of survival. "Despite its optimistic oversimplifications, the released study indicates that the tank would certainly have demised high up in the atmosphere," Butt, a staff scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, writes in an article for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
Up to now, U.S. officials had refused to release any of the prelaunch analyses regarding the fuel tank, claiming they contained sensitive information.
But Butt says that the newly released documents clearly contradict the official explanation for the shoot-down, which was seen at the time as provocative and risky. The Bush administration had protested loudly when China conducted its own antisatellite weapons test by shooting down an aging weather satellite in January 2007. One major concern was the amount of space debris generated by the fragmented satellite.
Beyond the stated concern about the toxic fuel, U.S. officials also were probably trying to prevent any fragments of the highly classified National Reconnaissance Agency imagery satellite from falling into the hands of U.S. adversaries.When the Pentagon ordered a Navy ship to shoot down a crippled U.S. spy satellite last... more
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The Navy successfully launched an anti-ballistic missile at a dead spy satellite headed towards Earth, to vent off some of rocket fuel in the satellite that could cause damage if the satellite hit the Earth in a populated area. But there are a number of conspiracy theories surrounding the mission. The Navy successfully launched an anti-ballistic missile at a dead spy satellite... more
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Going...going...GONE!!! An inoperable U.S. spy satellite orbiting about 150 miles above Earth was struck Wednesday by a missile fired from a U.S. Navy cruiser, military sources told CNN.
The Pentagon said the window of opportunity to strike the 5,000-pound satellite opened Wednesday, when the space shuttle Atlantis landed in Florida. The Pentagon wanted to be sure the shuttle would not be struck by any debris from a destroyed satellite.
It says the exploded parts should dissolve upon re-entering the atmosphere...and then it says the US is offering assistance to mitigate the effects of satellite debris. Great!
But what the heck happens to the cloud of toxic gas when the missile hits the satellite? Is my poor home state slated for toxic rain, not to mention falling missile and satellite parts?! Going...going...GONE!!! An inoperable U.S. spy satellite orbiting about 150 miles... more
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Tori
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added this
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4 years ago
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