Thanks! I was actually (and perhaps naively) thinking only of a radio relay satellite, not one with optical sensors. Your description is much more interesting.

Thanks! I was actually (and perhaps naively) thinking only of a radio relay satellite, not one with optical sensors. Your description is much more interesting. Once this happens -- once cheap optical survey satellites come into existence (and they will) -- governments are going to go completely nuts. Right now, governments can put pressure on the few survey satellite operators to blur out certain sensitive locations (as in a recent story posted here). But once cheap satellites come into existence, that option will evaporate.