[HN Gopher] Photos of a KH-12 Kennan Keyhole Secret Military Spy... ___________________________________________________________________ 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 ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-12-14 23:00 UTC)