Meanwhile in Russia...

[HoneyBadger]

Space Command wants to replace the RD-180s: http://defensesystems.com/articles/2...px?s=ds_250814. I know Gen Shelton expressed dissatisfaction with being dependent on the Russians at the last National Space Symposium.

Yep. I was at the Space Symposium too.

[sniper7]

I seriously doubt this, mostly because of the physical properties of light gathering instrumentation. I did the math a while back and to be able to read the big numbers in your license plate, the focal length of the telescope had to be several times larger than the Hubble (BuffCyclist should be able to support me here if I'm not mistaken). Nevermind the optical abnormalities of 400+km of atmosphere, lighting angles, shadows, humidity, clouds, relative motion, etc. I'm sure your FIL is a great guy, but I would recommend taking this with a few grains of salt. The big issue for me is that if we (US Gov) had this kind of resolution, I would be using it for my job fairly regularly.

i wouldn't call him a great guy, but he is manageable.

The hubble was launched in 1990. Think of the technology changes since then, even simple things like a cell phone, then move on to cameras, how many megapixels you can get, the quality of glass, the quality of the focus you can get now. And that is just on simple stuff we use every day.

Even in 2000, satellites could see if a vehicle had a license plate, couldn't read it, but could tell if one was there. 14 years is a lot of time and a lot of satellites have been launched since then.

[Aloha_Shooter]

i wouldn't call him a great guy, but he is manageable.

The hubble was launched in 1990. Think of the technology changes since then, even simple things like a cell phone, then move on to cameras, how many megapixels you can get, the quality of glass, the quality of the focus you can get now. And that is just on simple stuff we use every day.

Even in 2000, satellites could see if a vehicle had a license plate, couldn't read it, but could tell if one was there. 14 years is a lot of time and a lot of satellites have been launched since then.

Sensors change but optics doesn't. There's a limit to what kind of resolvable image you can get based on the primary aperture of the telescope. Yes, you can compensate for atmospheric distortion using deformable mirrors but that usually requires something like a laser guidestar. You can do subpixel processing but that usually requires extended image integration which is pretty tricky given the satellite motion. Bottom line, I might buy the satellite could see the expiration sticker on your plate but I don't buy it can produce a resolvable image allowing you to read the sticker.

[HoneyBadger]

Sensors change but optics doesn't. There's a limit to what kind of resolvable image you can get based on the primary aperture of the telescope. Yes, you can compensate for atmospheric distortion using deformable mirrors but that usually requires something like a laser guidestar. You can do subpixel processing but that usually requires extended image integration which is pretty tricky given the satellite motion. Bottom line, I might buy the satellite could see the expiration sticker on your plate but I don't buy it can produce a resolvable image allowing you to read the sticker.

Agreed. As I said above, optical physics is the big limiter here. There are some nifty tricks, but mm resolution is something I don't think you can get from LEO with current tech.

[BushMasterBoy]

These guys can read your license plate expiration tags. Not only that, they can tell how many spark plugs are firing under your hood!

http://www.vocativ.com/usa/nat-sec/c...rinth/#!bLcVlX

[Erni]

For the geeks: Seeing stickers would take better than NIIRS 9. Not sure if that is doable from 500 km up and a velocity of over 17,000 mph. The physics are a biotch.
Space Symposium rocks!

[BushMasterBoy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37

[HoneyBadger]

For the geeks: Seeing stickers would take better than NIIRS 9. Not sure if that is doable from 500 km up and a velocity of over 17,000 mph. The physics are a biotch.
Space Symposium rocks!

Thanks. I wasn't sure if anyone else here would be familiar with the NIIRS scale. Assuming we're only talking about visible light here, (SAR and IR wouldn't read the colored letters on the tag) the standard for NIIRS 9 is to read an actual license plate number.

For those who are unfamiliar with NIIRS, 9 is the end of the scale. Most commercially available satellite imagery (google earth) is NIIRS 4 or 5.

[HoneyBadger]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37

I'm sorry, I'm not really sure what you are trying to communicate with your post. Assuming you live in Pueblo, geostationary orbits over your house are not possible. Additionally, the X-37 cannot fly to Geo. If you really think the X-37 is spying on you, your sense of self-importance is greatly inflated.

[Alpha2]

I'm trying to miss the point, but I see you've got that covered.