America’s Spy Satellites: Just How Advanced are They Really?

แชร์
ฝัง
  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 พ.ค. 2024
  • Unlock the secrets of America's spy satellites in this gripping episode of Astrographics. Delve into their covert history, cutting-edge technology, and their role in shaping the future of surveillance and space exploration.

ความคิดเห็น • 587

  • @tomdenney9963
    @tomdenney9963 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +434

    Once a week I discover another Simon channel I didn’t know existed 😂

    • @iffracem
      @iffracem 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +14

      I know... how many channels does one person need?

    • @jonnokid
      @jonnokid 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Fact boy is slowly taking over the world

    • @k29king1
      @k29king1 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +12

      Simon contributes to like 90% of YT’s content lol😂. Not really but feels like it.

    • @karlacelar9545
      @karlacelar9545 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +11

      Internet says he has 16. This one not included😅😅😅😅

    • @ambientoccluser
      @ambientoccluser 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      @@karlacelar9545 But why tho? Did his team calculated that more revenue will be gained by more channels? Wouldn't be more convenient to gather as much viewers on a main channel? This is risking to be banned since that's exactly the thing that numerous spamming AI bot channels are doing.

  • @nes999
    @nes999 หลายเดือนก่อน +26

    I love how Simon doesn't advertise. He just shows up.

  • @fredfredburger5150
    @fredfredburger5150 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +107

    In 2012 the NRO donated two unused space telescopes to NASA. Similar in size to the Hubble Space Telescope, yet with steerable secondary mirrors and shorter focal length (resulting in a wider field of view). They were constructed between 1990 and the early 2000's. When the telescopes' specifications were presented to scientists, large portions were censored due to national security. These telescopes were described as having "state of the art optics" but were considered by the NRO to be *obsolete for reconnaissance purposes*.
    There's a wikipedia page about this "2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA"

    • @favesongslist
      @favesongslist 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +11

      Sad NASA could only get funds to convert one of the free NRO satellites, but what an achievement Hubble is. Hopefully NASA will allow SpaceX to send a repair mission.

    • @MrBen527
      @MrBen527 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      That's what the Hubble platform is based on, a spy satellite.

    • @michaelallen5505
      @michaelallen5505 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +12

      ​@@favesongslisti remember reading something in a magazine around the time Hubble was built. The price of Hubble was controversial, eventually reaching nearly $2 billion. But when it was approved, the mirror was built from a glass blank from Corning. The blanks were already available. Hmm...

    • @favesongslist
      @favesongslist 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      @@michaelallen5505 NASA began feasibility studies on the telescope in 1971, and the European Space Agency decided to build a camera for the telescope in 1975. The mirror was waiting in storage for 9 years without testing :(

    • @JasonBunston
      @JasonBunston 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      @@michaelallen5505 Hubble was deemed to be "shortsighted" when it was sent to orbit. It sounds like it was merely cut to specs closer to earth-facing needs ;)

  • @BojanMilic84
    @BojanMilic84 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +69

    3:40 Corona program
    5:15 Midas
    6:18 DSP
    6:46 KH11 Kennen
    7:48 SBSS/ GSSAP
    10:22 Discoverer
    11:09 SBIS
    11:22 Kennen line 2
    12:11 The Pathfinder
    12:21 The FORTE
    12:38 ISAT radar
    12:55 Orion satellite series
    13:13 Blackjack constellation

    • @richardbennett9405
      @richardbennett9405 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      🫡

    • @themidnightwill
      @themidnightwill 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      MVP

    • @secretbassrigs
      @secretbassrigs 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      better than China's? 😭😭😭😭😭

    • @Marc-vc1wo
      @Marc-vc1wo 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@secretbassrigsbetter than China's what.
      Protip for a Tard; complete sentences. Makes life significantly easier and hey, what do you know, people might even understand what you're trying to say.
      Even when trying to be a snide, toxic, Beijing funded internet troll.

    • @gotvash2284
      @gotvash2284 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      You are goated for this

  • @room1814
    @room1814 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    Don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone claim the TU-144 was a spy drone before.

  • @RCAF432Sqn
    @RCAF432Sqn 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +44

    KH-11 Keyhole…take the Hubble telescope and point it at Earth, done. It’s strange no one wondered how the US already had the capability to make the gigantic Hubble mirror, right? It’s because they were already making them.

    • @icu17siberia
      @icu17siberia 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      true that

    • @mysticknight9711
      @mysticknight9711 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Close - Hubble may have been the first mirror of the line, but there were at least a dozen other nearly identical mirrors produced by Perkin-Elmer for down-facing applications. I saw photos in the late 1980’s taken from above from which you could clearly see features smaller than 1cm

    • @rogerphelps9939
      @rogerphelps9939 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      hat is not a sole US capability by any means and don't forget that they cocked up the Hubble mirror.

    • @lordgarion514
      @lordgarion514 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      They were already making mirrors larger than hubble.

    • @rogerphelps9939
      @rogerphelps9939 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@lordgarion514 For ground based telescopes but not for space based telescopes that are limited by the rocket fairing size.

  • @lawrencemahalak6824
    @lawrencemahalak6824 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +72

    For a good idea of a KH-11’s capabilities, just look at the most famous one… the Hubble. It’s basically a KH-11 looking •out•, not •in•.

    • @jefffrilot9667
      @jefffrilot9667 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Or just look at the failed Iran space launch Trump Tweeted.

    • @dilldowschwagginz2674
      @dilldowschwagginz2674 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Very good point. I think the general public is a little naive when it comes to Intel apparatus. Those people care nothing about the constitution other than making sure that they have plausible deniability if anyone ever accuses them of ignoring it. It was all good when we thought that they were only applying it towards terrorist threats but that power was predictably turned inward towards citizens who may possess undesirable political views. I'm sure this has been going on and evolving for many decades but it clearly accelerated under the Obama administration. At this point, they have access to MUCH more information than any government on the planet and that knowledge is pure, unbridled power. They're untouchable at the present moment but at some point there will be a president and Congress who attempts to reel them in. Fireworks

  • @xyzero1682
    @xyzero1682 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +32

    >Mention the Pathfinder satellite
    >Pictures used is of the Pathfinder Mars probe
    Did an AI make this?

    • @dogsbecute
      @dogsbecute 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      yeah that threw me for a loop too. i didnt think it was AI, but now im sad thats probably true.

    • @scottmoldenhauer8908
      @scottmoldenhauer8908 2 วันที่ผ่านมา

      like we will know what made what....the beast awakens

  • @johnjacobjinglehimerschmid3555
    @johnjacobjinglehimerschmid3555 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    I find it incomprehensible that we have enough satellites orbiting and looking down at us so that the earths surface can be scanned 6 times of every minute.

  • @infotration2225
    @infotration2225 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    your video is mind blowing . I can't have word to appreciate you but still saying keep uploading . love peace

  • @laurenelizabeth8948
    @laurenelizabeth8948 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +12

    I hope this channel covers the X-37B sometime!

  • @Lngbrdninjamasta
    @Lngbrdninjamasta 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Yay more astrographics 🎉
    My favorite channel

  • @antiisocial
    @antiisocial 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +72

    Great, now I can never pee outside again.
    Edit: It's the internet. I should have expected all the penis jokes. 🤣

    • @WVUer21
      @WVUer21 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

      Eh. Too late.

    • @blitzzer24
      @blitzzer24 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

      Nothing is stopping you but you... 🤣

    • @tomholroyd7519
      @tomholroyd7519 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      The AI doesn't care, no worries, no human will ever see it --- unless you give them a reason to check the database
      When I was a kid there was a story about a giant book in the sky that automatically recorded everything you did and said. Did we just invent that? I thought it was a religious thing

    • @johnburrill2625
      @johnburrill2625 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +14

      Now I have a reason to

    • @WVUer21
      @WVUer21 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      @@johnburrill2625 Nice and big in the snow.

  • @henrykieninger
    @henrykieninger 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Another new channel! Im here for it!

  • @RB9522
    @RB9522 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    I'm surprised you didn't mention synthetic aperture RADAR satellites. They can see through clouds day or night with resolutions down to 5 millimeters. In the 1990s, the Spece Shuttle was able to map the entire surface of Earth in a single mission.

    • @donaldewing7405
      @donaldewing7405 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Tell me how the shuttle flew a polar orbit.

    • @RB9522
      @RB9522 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@donaldewing7405 you're right. Although it is(was) technically possible for the Shuttle to fly a polar orbit, it was never done. The radar map covered most of the Earth but not the polar regions. eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/missions/shuttle-radar-topography-mission

    • @cptjeff1
      @cptjeff1 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@donaldewing7405 It mapped 80% of the earth's land, not the entire surface, but that dataset is still used *heavily* today. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle_Radar_Topography_Mission

  • @zackmorrison470
    @zackmorrison470 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +31

    How about a video on synthetic aperture radar (SAR)? The name isn't very exciting, but the images, resolution, and capabilities are impressive. Also, it seems like every other week China is launching a new SAR satellite into orbit.

    • @dannileigh6426
      @dannileigh6426 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      SAR & ISAR offer a whole range of additional geospatial imaging information and capabilities. They should definitely cover them.

    • @erok268
      @erok268 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Yeah. That is some bonkers level stuff

    • @cptjeff1
      @cptjeff1 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Yeah, shocked that this wasn't covered here. The capability to see through clouds and tree cover and get a 3-D image back is, as it turns out, quite useful in military intelligence contexts. God I would kill to see the level of detail we have with that stuff these days.

    • @michaela5863
      @michaela5863 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@cptjeff1 It's because it is not an American advantage but rather one of those things that does not confirm the reality that suits a specific agenda.

    • @BeKindToBirds
      @BeKindToBirds 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@cptjeff1I have, I was in the US Army and got to drive the big sky cameras and order pictures and whatever. Overview effect to a small degree is what I would say it feels like.

  • @bettywilson376
    @bettywilson376 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I just got this in my feed. It's fantastic. And apparently I subscribed to it already but I don't remember ever seeing it.

  • @specracer28
    @specracer28 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +55

    Another channel! We need an intervention for Simon 😅

    • @goosenotmaverick1156
      @goosenotmaverick1156 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      It's been around a minute, but I was likewise surprised when I discovered it one day 😂
      Have you come across "Places" yet? His replacement for geographics.

    • @NM-yu3fc
      @NM-yu3fc 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      I'm fine with all the new channels! Except there are no car ones or gun ones yet 😓

    • @goosenotmaverick1156
      @goosenotmaverick1156 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      @@NM-yu3fc yeah I'm waiting for a car channel, he's mentioned it before.
      GET ON WITH IT, FACTBOI

    • @livewire98801
      @livewire98801 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I looked for a list one time, and I found what looked like it was an official site but it was far out of date. I liked it better when he just had the two, TopTenz was good for little factoids, and Today I found Out was good for these deeper dives.

    • @supersugg22
      @supersugg22 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      He needs to quit faking his accent .....

  • @junction13pirate
    @junction13pirate 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Love this channel 🙏🏻🙏🏻 Thank you Simon, if you ever come to Milton Keynes you'll have to pop in for a coffee 🙏🏻😁

  • @Cheesecakeman105
    @Cheesecakeman105 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Generally interesting topic, Simon! Never knew the us had skin in the game THAT early!

  • @KevinBalch-dt8ot
    @KevinBalch-dt8ot 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    When discussing the Pathfinder satellite, a picture of the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, which was an entirely different program, was shown.

    • @deafenziv3596
      @deafenziv3596 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Yeah he got quite a few things wrong, especially about MIDAS and DSP

  • @garrettfields6972
    @garrettfields6972 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +13

    I thought Simon had a bruise on his head but then I clean my computer screen.

  • @markl3893
    @markl3893 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    When you make a bunch of identical satellites, they cost comes down. When you launch them two at a time on a Falcon 9, the cost really comes down when compared to a disposable rocket for each sat.

  • @bro_dBow
    @bro_dBow 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Very well done!

  • @seymourpro6097
    @seymourpro6097 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    The problem with every satellite system is that they are totally predictable. For years the American secret industries had to do all outdoor testing when the Soviet satellites were elsewhere.

    • @icu17siberia
      @icu17siberia 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      thats movie stuff

    • @joesnuffy1961
      @joesnuffy1961 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      It absolutely is not we track every satellite and know it’s orbital period and its ability so we know when to hide or not!

  • @clarencehopkins7832
    @clarencehopkins7832 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Excellent stuff bro

  • @kennethnielsen3864
    @kennethnielsen3864 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Thanks for sharing.

  • @SitInTheShayd
    @SitInTheShayd 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +41

    Last time I was this early a centurion was a rank not a tank

  • @davidpalmer4184
    @davidpalmer4184 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    Please, please, please tell me that the Kennen satellite was replaced by the Barbie satellite?? Love your work Simon and team!

    • @dylanthomas12321
      @dylanthomas12321 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Or the Tracy Reed satellite, the only female in Dr Strangelove.

  • @Zeldaschampion
    @Zeldaschampion 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Judas Priest Electric Eye started playing in my head.

  • @franciscook5819
    @franciscook5819 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    About 9:00 you missed interception of telephone conversations (land based microwave tower to tower) - the satellite passed through the beam periodically.

  • @RiverOssei
    @RiverOssei 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    That damn sound effect that sounds like an audio cable shorting out keeps freaking me out about my phone. Damn you, Simon!

    • @string_fellow_hawk
      @string_fellow_hawk 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      True a true criminal episode. There is a truck backing up.

  • @Crazy_Worlds
    @Crazy_Worlds 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I remember an informed comment from decades back about the Kennen class spy satellites that they were so powerful that they could “read the label on your underpants”. I’ve always thought that was a bit creepy for all sorts of reasons.

  • @MakeOrBreakSociety
    @MakeOrBreakSociety 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +38

    I just don't understand why this channel isn't doing well. It's sooooo good 🎉

    • @MrRogers-hood
      @MrRogers-hood 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +14

      I didn't even know it was a thing until today!

    • @blitzzer24
      @blitzzer24 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      Commenting for algorithms.
      But also for real this channel is GREAT

    • @stax6092
      @stax6092 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Yes.

    • @davidva8694
      @davidva8694 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

      Because Simon is only interested in making money. If he were actually interested in these topics then he probably wouldn’t mispronounce words.

    • @aussieflintknapping
      @aussieflintknapping 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      ​@@MrRogers-hoodsame and I've been subbed to all his others for years 😂

  • @Sacto1654
    @Sacto1654 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    I believe that given the circa 1 meter resolution of today's commercial imaging satellites, you wonder is the biggest customer for even 1 meter images is the US military. That resolution is more than enough to pick out parked airplanes, parked military vehicles, and most launch sites, even marked out sites for mobile ballistic missile launchers.

  • @BradKwfc
    @BradKwfc 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Search 'Multiple kill vehicle', now that's some crazy stuff.

  • @gaius_enceladus
    @gaius_enceladus 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    I still reckon it was a mistake to retire the SR-71 and replace it with satellites.
    The SR-71 flies a lot lower than satellites (better image quality) and its overflights can't be predicted, unlike satellites.

    • @donaldboyer8182
      @donaldboyer8182 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      But at this point in time they would be much more vulnerable.. Their advantage would be lost..

    • @rogerphelps9939
      @rogerphelps9939 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@donaldboyer8182 Given what Ukrainiane drones have achieved in Russia I wouldn't be so sure about that!

    • @Bobby-fj8mk
      @Bobby-fj8mk 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      The SR-71 is obsolete - SAMs fly much faster and can shoot them down.

    • @El_Peto
      @El_Peto 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I'd pay slightly more taxes just to see one fly from time to time

    • @incandescentwithrage
      @incandescentwithrage 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@rogerphelps9939A drone and an SR71 have quite different costs to produce.
      Only one of them is disposable

  • @jesse7644
    @jesse7644 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Fantastic this man have as many Chanels as he have subs.

  • @jimmcdougall9973
    @jimmcdougall9973 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    But we haven’t got a clue where the missing Malaysia Airlines plane went…

    • @fredbugden6935
      @fredbugden6935 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      We don't , NSA might.

  • @darthtac
    @darthtac 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    Great video Simon and basement team.
    Hate to be a pedantic git but at 2:12 that is a MiG-25PU two-seat trainer not the MiG-25R reconnaissance version.

    • @rubikmonat6589
      @rubikmonat6589 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      The pathfinder picture was wrong too, they showed the Mars rover, not the satellite.

  • @larrydugan1441
    @larrydugan1441 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Imagine the ability to take pictures of things that aren't there anymore.
    That was 40 plus years ago.

  • @johnnyshoe2229
    @johnnyshoe2229 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Im pretty sure that the usa has satellite that can track down how many farts you blew that day 😂😂😂

  • @SDsc0rch
    @SDsc0rch 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    the US and USSR would race each other to capture those satellite drops as they parachuted down
    there were a lot of cat and mouse games during the cold war

  • @SDsc0rch
    @SDsc0rch 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    12:15 ---- wait... WUT?!?
    is that a mars rover???lol

  • @paulmorrison3113
    @paulmorrison3113 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    What I want to know is, what the heck happens to all the old redundant satellites ? There must be thousands floating around up there, and keeping track of them all, must be tricky, so they don't hit a human spacecraft being launched.

    • @Kriss_L
      @Kriss_L 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Generally they are deorbited, and burn up during reentry.

  • @gowdsake7103
    @gowdsake7103 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    If you take a camera and take thousands of images of the same spot the quality is amazing

  • @codymr1974
    @codymr1974 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    02:24 Top schematic is not the MIG25, it's a TU144.

  • @nufosmatic
    @nufosmatic 28 วันที่ผ่านมา

    17:07 - The big problem with DoD satellites is that uplink/downlink bandwidth requires radio bands to be available, and Congress keeps selling bandwidth to telecom companies to try to balance the budget.

  • @MichaelRoy-hc3lz
    @MichaelRoy-hc3lz 21 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Didn't the GRAB satellite look like it was ready shout "Danger Will Robinson!"?

  • @rodh2168
    @rodh2168 หลายเดือนก่อน

    You should do a piece of the true story about Hubble's initial "bad" lenses.

  • @cixtos
    @cixtos 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Have you covered the NASA tech called a MHD drive? These videos are fascinating 🚀

  • @ArchFiendFolio
    @ArchFiendFolio 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Great info

  • @dylanthomas12321
    @dylanthomas12321 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    BTW, SpaceX recently signed a contract with Space Force to launch a fleet of low earth orbit surveillance satellites based on its Starlink model.

  • @TurboHappyCar
    @TurboHappyCar 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Great video! Note to the editor: Please do not animate still images by moving them around. I don't need motion sickness while trying to look at a photo. Thanks.

  • @lucabonomo241
    @lucabonomo241 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Thank you for the video but my question is :what computer does it take to see a live intelligence satellite?...and what organization need to use to coordinate satellite in real time operations? Thanks so much

  • @falconabc2731
    @falconabc2731 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Great video, may be you can make another video on Soviet spy satellites.

  • @tomholroyd7519
    @tomholroyd7519 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    Back in the day they would return a film canister to Earth to be analyzed by hand. These days there is so much data that a human cannot review it all. A lot is just stored to be looked at in forensic scenarios but the AIs are getting better. I mean, the AI will see you getting into your car in the morning, but it won't care ... unless you're on a watch list Simon

  • @gobstoppa1633
    @gobstoppa1633 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    excellent, cheers.

  • @nicklastname9495
    @nicklastname9495 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Two rules I have on TH-cam. 1: When S2 Underground posts a news report, I watch it. 2: When Simon has a new channel, I subscribe to it.

  • @JoRoWi83
    @JoRoWi83 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I swear I just stumble onto channels Simon hosts everyday that I had no clue existed

  • @frankiethefish73
    @frankiethefish73 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I was talking to a Lockheed technician once and he said they did a ground level test between two towers in two different cities spaced 30 miles apart and they can read a persons name tag at that distance.

    • @X85283
      @X85283 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Extremely, extremely unlikely through 30mi of near-surface atmosphere.

  • @Corrupt_Liberty
    @Corrupt_Liberty 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Is there a list of Simon channels somewhere?

  • @BuddhaAfterDark
    @BuddhaAfterDark 10 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    HOW MANY CHANNELS DOES SIMON HAVE! Better yet, HOW MANY DONT I KNOW ABOUT?

  • @garyb9167
    @garyb9167 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Can you do a video on the M-55. Never heard of it before.

  • @martinoamello3017
    @martinoamello3017 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I remember back when it came out that the NSA was spying on everyone and supposedly listening to all our phone conversations I had to catch the bus everywhere. I thought GREAT! The only calls I made at the time was checking bus schedules. Maybe Uncle Sam would learn how to tell time. 😂

  • @DavidRowbotham-gu7kz
    @DavidRowbotham-gu7kz 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I'm learning to just watch due to amazing production value, nice.
    However if baby's are being boiled in Baltimore, how then will we know. Rock on ya star. Yr very good.

  • @johnjacobjinglehimerschmid3555
    @johnjacobjinglehimerschmid3555 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Pretty cool amt of information. I'd like to know how they built a 980 foot satellite. Amazing great video.

    • @cptjeff1
      @cptjeff1 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Think about how an umbrella unfolds. The smallest, most compactly folded ones you've seen. Then add more folds to those arms and make them really, really long, fine, and delicate. Integrating and launching them is insanely difficult too- they have to be kept vertical, if you put them on their sides in earth gravity all those little spindles will bend and crack, and the dish material might become caught and tangled as well.
      Those satellites are monumental accomplishments, and the general understanding of their capabilities in the open source world is that they can pick up every single radio transmission in a huge area, perhaps even entire countries. Every cell phone call, every handheld military radio. And we have a fleet of 10 of 'em.

  • @mikew5775
    @mikew5775 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    A million years ago when I was squadron crew on board CV-63 I had a buddy who worked in the photo shop tell me, “…the Russians would all have heart attacks if they new how good our cameras were.”

  • @barryholloway7881
    @barryholloway7881 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Why did you skip KH-8 Gambit and KH-9 Hexagon? You left out about two decades of this stories history.

  • @bradnail99
    @bradnail99 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    One of the images later in this video was a rendering of a full-stack Saturn V rocket in orbit, connected to a huge PV array with pods near the ends. It was very unrealistic and looked like a wacky AI-generated image.

  • @williamschwartzkopf4068
    @williamschwartzkopf4068 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Simon is slowly taking over youtube

  • @NexxuSix
    @NexxuSix 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +18

    Allegedly back in the 80s, spy satellites were so powerful they could see a pack of cigarettes from 700 miles up.

    • @JainZar1
      @JainZar1 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      That is true, the arc resolution is physically limited by the mirror size and Hubble's mirror is the same size as the spy satellites at that time. And the mirror size means those satellites had 10 cm by 10 cm resolution.

    • @UncleKennysPlace
      @UncleKennysPlace 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +11

      @@JainZar1 Which means that they _could not_ discern a pack of cigarettes, nor read license plates. Beyond the theoretical diffraction-limited resolution, you have atmospheric conditions to deal with, and ordinary weather.
      So, _occasionally,_ you could get really good views.

    • @fredfredburger5150
      @fredfredburger5150 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Typing this before watching the whole video so I don't know if it gets covered. At the distance spy satellites are from the ground the Law of Diffraction would limit optical resolution to no greater than 2-3 inches even with _perfect_ atmospheric conditions and _perfect_ mirrors/lenses. So all the cool myths surrounding spy satellites being to read your newspaper or identify a persons face from space are just that...myths.

    • @TheSnowMan-cy9tu
      @TheSnowMan-cy9tu 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@UncleKennysPlaceSo on those perfect days where they could get really good views how well could they see,? What's the smallest item they could see?

    • @sanitarium017
      @sanitarium017 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@JainZar1that is larger than a pack of cigarettes

  • @jamesozechoski8254
    @jamesozechoski8254 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Fascinating.

  • @MostlyPennyCat
    @MostlyPennyCat 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Simon looks like he has a pink flower glued to his head

  • @marcusmoonstein242
    @marcusmoonstein242 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    The SpaceX Starlink system has proven so useful in the Ukraine war that the US military now wants its own version.

  • @jackimo22
    @jackimo22 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I hope you use the tweet from trump of a picture of Irans missile launch facility as evidence of how high the satellite resolution is

  • @jc-pj3nh
    @jc-pj3nh 24 วันที่ผ่านมา

    If you are sitting in you backyard reading a papperback, they can read it along with you!

  • @sd_pjwal
    @sd_pjwal 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    With "constant stare" it seems as if a geopolitical rival could initiate a military action somewhere just to gauge the response and then continue or halt accordingly. Effectively, capitalizing on fecklessness.

  • @nufosmatic
    @nufosmatic 28 วันที่ผ่านมา

    At a conference at MIT Lincoln Labs (Lexingon, MA) in 2001, a group put together a synthetic aperture RADAR (SAR) using a ground station in Washington, DC (Naval Observatory) and the MIT Haystack station (Tyngsborough, MA). The experiment was to image a satellite in orbit. SAR uses a larger array to image smaller objects, and this promised to be a very interesting presentation. However, inspite of the satellite, the ground stations, the communications network, and the algorithms all being unclassified, the DoD classified the product of the experiment.

  • @macswanton9622
    @macswanton9622 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I'd like to thank the host for pronouncing 'assume' correctly,
    and for not saying 'ashoom', like a right ponce.

  • @VikrantSingh-se2zb
    @VikrantSingh-se2zb หลายเดือนก่อน

    Constant Stare, to detect Cold Sneeze on any surface sensing satellite communication capabilities marking the beginning of new era or epoch reckoning space-time frontiers.

  • @PlzenskyLover
    @PlzenskyLover หลายเดือนก่อน

    The DSP satellites scanning the entire earth's surface 6 times per minute has to me a typo. Six times a day, I could believe. 22000 miles is the height of geostationary orbits; such satellites would orbit once per day. You would need a lot of them so that one is overhead everywhere every 10 seconds.

  • @user-ji2gq3qp4x
    @user-ji2gq3qp4x 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    like the new glasses !

  • @user-yu5kt6go6j
    @user-yu5kt6go6j 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Usually I look only on my sub feed. But I swear every now and then I'll go on Home and there will always be a new Simon channel

  • @professorg8383
    @professorg8383 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Seems like a vast constellation of low earth orbit satellites like SpaceX Starlink could get you pictures of just about anywhere, anytime. Being at such a relatively low attitude, quite good resolution could be obtained without exotic optics.

    • @cptjeff1
      @cptjeff1 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Which is why the NRO is working with SpaceX for a network of small, Starlink sized satellites called Starshield. They've mixed some in with Starlink deployments and are doing some dedicated launches.

    • @professorg8383
      @professorg8383 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@cptjeff1 Yeah, I have pretty much suspected this for a while. I have long concluded that Starlink can never be profitable unless it also include look down cameras on their satellites.
      A fair while back, Musk said he would never put camorras on his satellites. But then he showed us pretty detailed views of the last Starship 3rd test flight. So we know in fact, at least some do have cameras. Go figure!

  • @heroes526
    @heroes526 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    what watch is that? looks nice!

  • @Hillbilly001
    @Hillbilly001 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    Good Lord!!! Simon has been busy. Allegedly. Live Blaze started my day and has consumed most of the day. Well played Lizard Overlord. Cheers

  • @kieronmckay4276
    @kieronmckay4276 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +12

    I'm pretty skeptical that US space satellites can do accurate facial recognition from space...I have no doubt there is a mythology behind this, but even thinking through the mechanics of such telephoto resolutions from that kind of distance, the size of the telescope would have to be enormous or the amount of mechanical zoom would have to be something in the realm of absolute insanity. It would border on the resolution of a single earthbound telescope being able to pick up the same fine details of the moon as the people and drones who've landed on the moon...let alone think of the type of angle a satellite would need to be at in order to not get just a top down view, but to be able to see enough of your face to know who you were because the top of peoples' heads aren't exactly the most easily identifiable, and then revisit the idea of mechanical zoom through atmosphere, dust, clouds and things of that nature at an even further distance and with the curvature of the earth...let alone if anything in that distance should come in the way like a building or a mountain or trees particularly when the satellite has to manage glare from the sun and may not be able to have the most ideal position...or it gets dark, cause identifying people from infrared isn't exactly easy or ideal and a lens with that kind of focal length isn't exactly going to be fast because so little light will pass through the aperture meaning if the subject is moving too fast or there isn't enough light this could be a real struggle to capture a clean enough frame to make an ID...There is no "enhance" button like we see in movies, you will have to have the pixel/dpi resolution and mechanical zoom to be able to pull this off...While not a technical impossibility, this is just very very very impractical. and I highly doubt we would have had such a hard time chasing down terrorists or sent bombs into civilian weddings if we could accurately identify faces from space over the last decades.

    • @carlosvasquez9890
      @carlosvasquez9890 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Yeap...not real.

    • @brandonmarch9199
      @brandonmarch9199 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      In 2008 we had access to satellite images in our Blue Force Trackers and we were notified when a satellite found a license plate we were looking for so... there's that.

    • @laurenmp7486
      @laurenmp7486 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      The resolution limit, which is a hard physical limit, is hair under 4 inches. Which is not good enough for facial recognition.

    • @The_Silver_Lurker
      @The_Silver_Lurker 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      I like Simon's videos as much as the next, but some of these videos are grossly sensationalized with little to no facts to back them up.
      Let's not forget, no matter how good a satellite is, it still follows a VERY predictable orbit. Seeing eyebrow details and freckles is cool, but if you know the satellite is coming, you'd just put on a mask.

    • @2024OUSE
      @2024OUSE 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      It's based on the shape of your body and how you move not your face.

  • @mariodumais2153
    @mariodumais2153 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I can't help but to think of the Starlink constellation. The sheer number lends itself to all sorts of possibilities for the US military. How hard would it really be to have a few of them equipped with special technology or to insert a more powerful satellite within the constellation. I'm certain the idea has already been put to use and I'm also certain that I am far behind what is already being done or at least I hope so.

    • @cptjeff1
      @cptjeff1 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      That is indeed being done. Starshield is the name of the program.

  • @tomholroyd7519
    @tomholroyd7519 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I think they could service Hubble if they wanted to. KH satellites are basically Hubble telescopes that are pointed down. For reference, while Kennan is 3 meters, Hubble is 2.4 meters.

    • @firstfromabove
      @firstfromabove 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Sure, it's possible. Just illogical with it being outdated and on its way to irrelevant.

  • @shawnlowery6246
    @shawnlowery6246 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Great video. Thank you.

  • @JeffHoneyager
    @JeffHoneyager 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    When the hubble space telescope was launched, do you think that there was only one; pointing away from earth?

  • @machdaddy6451
    @machdaddy6451 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    It must be very crowded up there!

  • @londomolari5715
    @londomolari5715 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    The advantage of planes is that they are not in a regular predictable orbit.

    • @fredfredburger5150
      @fredfredburger5150 หลายเดือนก่อน

      A lot easier to re-task and refuel a plane too. Anyone who tells you there is no successor to the SR-71 because of satellites is lying or an idiot.

  • @BassRck50-xv8iz
    @BassRck50-xv8iz หลายเดือนก่อน

    They can read my thoughts!

  • @padawanmage71
    @padawanmage71 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    The Pathfinder Spy Satellite is different than the Mars lander shown 🤔

  • @sunny-sq6ci
    @sunny-sq6ci 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    let's not forget the greatest of them all: the entire gps system is entirely owned and overseen by the us space force. the only reason the gps system is accessible to civilians is due to infamous downing of the Korean airline by the Russians, then pres Reagan signed an executive order that required the military to give all commercial airlines that operate within the US access.

  • @marsspacex6065
    @marsspacex6065 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    May 19 2024 SpaceX will begin deploying the new constellation it built for the NRO. A game changer with real time constant coverage. Its the NROL 146 launch. This is the constant stare he was talking about it should be fully deployed by 2027.

  • @ObviousSchism
    @ObviousSchism 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    How many channels does this guy have?

  • @philippefrancken.
    @philippefrancken. 24 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Why are your lights in focus, but you’re blurry?