[HN Gopher] Photos of a KH-12 Kennan Keyhole Secret Military Spy...
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Photos of a KH-12 Kennan Keyhole Secret Military Spy Satellite
(2013)
Author : _Microft
Score : 50 points
Date : 2021-12-14 18:08 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.spacesafetymagazine.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.spacesafetymagazine.com)
| imglorp wrote:
| Superpowers pretend various space assets are secrets, but it's
| really a pointless waste of their secrecy machines. If the
| amateurs know this much about everyone's satellite position and
| appearance, the pros certainly know much more. So who's left?
| Nobody. So it's only secret on paper.
| mhh__ wrote:
| We know the US operates the X-37b, we do not know what it is
| doing.
| pvarangot wrote:
| Well, "we don't know"...
|
| It's mainly:
|
| - An anti-satellite weapon not unlike the rockets the Chinese
| launch at satellites, but more refined and capable of
| retrieving technology before disabling the craft.
|
| - A testing platform for space technology like sensors. It
| can serve as a makeshift scrappy satellite if you need to
| quickly deploy a sensor for something.
|
| Like you don't know what it's doing but you know what mostly
| everything else on space that was not launched on board of
| that thing is doing so there's not much left to imagination
| here. It's like saying you don't know what Delta Force is
| doing, yeah you do, they shoot at people. You don't know what
| people and for what reason but that's not spooky secret alien
| stuff or anything.
| nonameiguess wrote:
| The appearance, existence, and position of spy satellites are
| not secret. The capabilities and the data coming back from them
| are secret.
| bob1029 wrote:
| Capabilities and data can be inferred as well. If you know
| exactly what something is flying over, who launched it and
| when, you can make some reasonable assumptions.
| 14 wrote:
| I assume constant imagery of most areas. We are probably all
| tracked in great detail but they would not want us to know
| that. I suspect they already can retrace the steps of any
| crime and follow it backwards. But they are not worried about
| crimes but probably are tracking certain people and don't
| want them to wise up and deploy anti satellite tracking
| techniques. Spy vs spy.
| 323 wrote:
| In 20 years Google Maps will probably show live video, at
| least in major cities.
| groos wrote:
| There is tremendous value in knowing the orbits and when they
| pass over as India demonstrated in 1998 by using awareness of
| US spy satellite overpasses to keep their preparations
| secret. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhran-II
| bob1029 wrote:
| This is fascinating. From an original source in that
| article:
|
| > The Regiment 58 Engineers had learned a lot since 1995
| about how to avoid detection by U.S. spy satellites. A lot
| of work was done at night, and heavy equipment was always
| returned to the same parking spot at dawn so that image
| analysts would conclude that they had never moved. Piles of
| sand were shaped to mimic the wind-aligned and shaped dune
| forms in the area. When cables were laid they were
| carefully covered and native vegetation replaced to conceal
| the digging.
| foobarian wrote:
| The movie Body of Lies showed some clever counter-
| surveillance tricks like in this scene:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeciZ5_hFTY
|
| Probably not realistic but thought provoking still.
| marcodiego wrote:
| https://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/... I
| can't be the only one who thinks the "proposed model" looks
| nothing like the capture.
| meepmorp wrote:
| It's hard to say. At very least, the shading in the two
| pictures doesn't suggest that they're both presented in the
| same relative orientation.
| slowhand09 wrote:
| Cuisinart blender "Space model", on sale at BestBuy...
| _Microft wrote:
| The proposed model and the photograph were made independently
| by different people by the way.
|
| Solar panels aren't included at all in the proposed model.
| These are the protrusions towards the bottom left and top right
| on the photograph. The part at the "upper left" end of the
| satellite might just be a lid or a sunshade on the opening of
| the telescope. Beside that the tapering shape of the main
| structure looks similar, imo. Keep in mind that there is a wide
| variety of possible shapes for satellites. For that, the
| proposed shape doesn't look that bad, imo.
| michaf wrote:
| So, if it's true that these KH-12 spy satellites are basically
| modified versions the Hubble space telescope, would it be
| reasonable to assume that Webb will get copied in a similar way
| for spy satellites?
| micah94 wrote:
| Doubtful, I think Webb only sees in the infrared. Looking at
| the earth would blind it. This is why it'll be a million miles
| away protected by a fancy heat shield.
| BrazzVuvuzela wrote:
| > _Looking at the earth would blind it_
|
| Wouldn't that depend on how much dynamic range it has? Webb
| is intended to look at very dim signals in space so Earth
| would blind it, but if a spy-Webb were intended to track
| rocket or jet engines, things quite hotter than the rest of
| earth, perhaps it might be capable of that?
| nyokodo wrote:
| > would it be reasonable to assume that Webb will get copied in
| a similar way for spy satellites?
|
| Unlikely. You have the origin mixed up. The spy satellites came
| first, and then Hubble.
| twinge wrote:
| Next comes the space telescopes that are based on the KH-11
| spy satellites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_National_R
| econnaissance_O...
| mturmon wrote:
| Yes, the spy satellites were first by a long shot. The KH-11
| (2.4m mirror, CCD focal plane) was first launched in 1976.
| Hubble (2.4m mirror, CCD focal plane) was launched in 1990.
|
| The shared mirror size is not a coincidence:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_KENNEN#Size_and_mass
|
| The two also share a multi-billion dollar budget.
| skunkworker wrote:
| Article dated September 13, 2013.
| _Microft wrote:
| Fixed, thanks!
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| Are these still in active use?
| BrazzVuvuzela wrote:
| NROL-82, launched this year early in April, is likely one of
| them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11#Block_V
| micah94 wrote:
| Yes: https://www.npr.org/2019/09/02/756673481/amateurs-
| identify-u...
| dylan604 wrote:
| we could tell you, but then we'd need an approriate place to
| dispose of your body.*
|
| *not a threat of violence, just a saying
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(page generated 2021-12-14 23:00 UTC)