4 ms·

I totally believe they have satellites with this level of clarity, and probably did 20+ years ago as well. But how do you read a license plate at a 90° angle f

by pc86 4y ago

I totally believe they have satellites with this level of clarity, and probably did 20+ years ago as well. But how do you read a license plate at a 90° angle from space?

bhhaskin 4y ago
The earth is round my dude.
- bhhaskin 4y ago
  Here is a great example from the company planet: https://youtu.be/GPgU5OYpwCs https://youtu.be/GPgU5OYpwCs The angle changes as the satellite counties on its orbit.
- samstave 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
    Wow, you're really leaning in on this one!
sleepybrett 4y ago
It could be that he meant that you could read something 'license plate sized' from space.
kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
There is no license plate reading from space. It is physically impossible to achieve such resolutions from LEO with atmosphere in the way. It gets worse with off axis viewing through a longer column of air.
- HPsquared 4y ago
  Aren't adaptive optics a thing for telescopes? The giant laser beam might be a bit conspicuous though I suppose (if it even works looking downwards)
  - gorkish 4y ago
    adaptive optics cant change the diffraction limit. The only way to overcome that is with a bigger lens or synthetic aperture post-processing. SAR at optical wavelengths from orbital distances and velocities? Yeah, good luck
- try_the_bass 4y ago
  Given the quality of unclassified photos released to the public at times [1], it's not unreasonable to assume the classified stuff is an order of magnitude better (or more). Note the angle of some of the photos! [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42510783 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42510783
HPsquared 4y ago
I'd imagine spy satellites don't always look directly down on their targets. Especially if they want to look at something not directly under its ground track, the satellite would need the ability to look at things off to the side. So that'd enable reading something vertical. Still would need to look at it from the _correct_ angle though.
PeterisP 4y ago
IMINT satellites are never GEO (if only because GEO is so far), so they don't "sit above" some area but fly over it at high speed, so it can get a 45° or 30° picture and the only issue is the target is a bit further than when you're straight above it.

by pc86 4y ago

I totally believe they have satellites with this level of clarity, and probably did 20+ years ago as well. But how do you read a license plate at a 90° angle from space?

bhhaskin 4y ago

The earth is round my dude.

bhhaskin 4y ago
Here is a great example from the company planet: https://youtu.be/GPgU5OYpwCs https://youtu.be/GPgU5OYpwCs The angle changes as the satellite counties on its orbit.
samstave 4y ago
[flagged]
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
  Wow, you're really leaning in on this one!

sleepybrett 4y ago

It could be that he meant that you could read something 'license plate sized' from space.

kevin_thibedeau 4y ago

There is no license plate reading from space. It is physically impossible to achieve such resolutions from LEO with atmosphere in the way. It gets worse with off axis viewing through a longer column of air.

HPsquared 4y ago
Aren't adaptive optics a thing for telescopes? The giant laser beam might be a bit conspicuous though I suppose (if it even works looking downwards)
- gorkish 4y ago
  adaptive optics cant change the diffraction limit. The only way to overcome that is with a bigger lens or synthetic aperture post-processing. SAR at optical wavelengths from orbital distances and velocities? Yeah, good luck
try_the_bass 4y ago
Given the quality of unclassified photos released to the public at times [1], it's not unreasonable to assume the classified stuff is an order of magnitude better (or more). Note the angle of some of the photos! [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42510783 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42510783

HPsquared 4y ago

I'd imagine spy satellites don't always look directly down on their targets. Especially if they want to look at something not directly under its ground track, the satellite would need the ability to look at things off to the side. So that'd enable reading something vertical. Still would need to look at it from the _correct_ angle though.

PeterisP 4y ago

IMINT satellites are never GEO (if only because GEO is so far), so they don't "sit above" some area but fly over it at high speed, so it can get a 45° or 30° picture and the only issue is the target is a bit further than when you're straight above it.