4 ms·

I wonder, what is the current state of satellite technology available to military? Can they stream near real-time hi-res images that would "prove" that one side

by mike_k 5y ago

I wonder, what is the current state of satellite technology available to military? Can they stream near real-time hi-res images that would "prove" that one side or the other is effectively responsible for a certain escalation? An (non-existent) international institution to analyze and take action is the other part of the puzzle.

aerostable_slug 5y ago
Imagery satellites fly at a low altitude and effectively cannot "hover" over a site in the same way a drone can. That said, one can correlate the passes of imagery satellites (optical, radar) with other spaceborne RF sensors, and sensors on airplanes & drones (optical, radar, RF etc.), and data from implanted sensors on the ground, to construct a real-time view of the battlespace. The Full Monty of these capabilities, especially data fusion from disparate platforms, would never be released to the world. Fun fact: US overhead systems (NRO satellites) are sometimes quietly used to aid search & rescue activities. A friend of mine, a USAF E-9 who had been read into many compartments during his career, used to do this with the Coast Guard after he retired from the Air Force. Pretty cool stuff.
- xxpor 5y ago
  The operators of most of those satellites for the US, which I find most people haven't actually heard of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geospatial-Intelligence_Agency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geospatial-Intelligen... Like you mentioned, they do use their capabilities for some things other than just GEOINT: >In addition to using GEOINT for U.S. military and intelligence efforts, NGA provides assistance during natural and man-made disasters, aids in security planning for major events such as the Olympic Games,[9] disseminates maritime safety information,[10] and gathers data on climate change.[11]
  - m2fkxy 5y ago
    The NRO would be actually the operator. NGA takes care of exploiting the data
    - xxpor 5y ago
      Ah shoot, you're right, I totally forgot. It does make me wonder what the NGA does with a ~5 billion dollar budget then, in my head most it was allocated to new sats. Other than buy approximately 10 3080s I mean ;)
      - m2fkxy 5y ago
        Good point... those 10 3080s sure would be useful for the ML stuff they probably do, hehe. Also, probably going towards buying a lot of third-party commercial data.

by mike_k 5y ago

aerostable_slug 5y ago

Imagery satellites fly at a low altitude and effectively cannot "hover" over a site in the same way a drone can. That said, one can correlate the passes of imagery satellites (optical, radar) with other spaceborne RF sensors, and sensors on airplanes & drones (optical, radar, RF etc.), and data from implanted sensors on the ground, to construct a real-time view of the battlespace. The Full Monty of these capabilities, especially data fusion from disparate platforms, would never be released to the world. Fun fact: US overhead systems (NRO satellites) are sometimes quietly used to aid search & rescue activities. A friend of mine, a USAF E-9 who had been read into many compartments during his career, used to do this with the Coast Guard after he retired from the Air Force. Pretty cool stuff.

xxpor 5y ago
The operators of most of those satellites for the US, which I find most people haven't actually heard of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geospatial-Intelligence_Agency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geospatial-Intelligen... Like you mentioned, they do use their capabilities for some things other than just GEOINT: >In addition to using GEOINT for U.S. military and intelligence efforts, NGA provides assistance during natural and man-made disasters, aids in security planning for major events such as the Olympic Games,[9] disseminates maritime safety information,[10] and gathers data on climate change.[11]
- m2fkxy 5y ago
  The NRO would be actually the operator. NGA takes care of exploiting the data
  - xxpor 5y ago
    Ah shoot, you're right, I totally forgot. It does make me wonder what the NGA does with a ~5 billion dollar budget then, in my head most it was allocated to new sats. Other than buy approximately 10 3080s I mean ;)
    - m2fkxy 5y ago
      Good point... those 10 3080s sure would be useful for the ML stuff they probably do, hehe. Also, probably going towards buying a lot of third-party commercial data.