Satellite

Satellite  (communications technology,  surveillance)
DMSP Block-5D2, picture credit: US Air Force
Interest of	• Maxar Technologies • National Reconnaissance Office

A satellite is a piece of technology that orbits the earth. These are used for a variety of purposes, including telecommunication, surveillance and while the UN 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits the placing of:

"nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner the weaponization of space"

- most likely covert warfare purposes as well. Concepts for the weaponization of space have been discussed in the past. In June 1961, three-and-a-half years after the launch of Sputnik 1, the United States Space Surveillance Network cataloged 115 Earth-orbiting satellites.

Surveillance

Satellites for surveillance were one of the first usages for the new technology when it began to mature in the early 1960s, the resolution of those early models was able to resolve objects at 5 to 10 cm (under ideal conditions). The current "official" estimate for the resolution of spy satellites is 1cm.

Full motion video

By 2018 reports started to emerge that private companies, among others financed by Bill Gates, want to create a satellite system that will monitor most of the surface of the earth 24/7. It stands to reason that it is possible that a system that does this already exists for American intelligence (given the financing of the past decades), and to a lesser extent some other countries as well.

Close-up of a reconnaissance satellite during assembly

Radar

New satellite based radar technology brings the resolution of images to a millimeter level (or below that) and makes it possible to see into buildings.

Private usage

Private individuals can order the services of a company that has a satellite in space for the right money.

Anti satellite weapons

Taking out satellites can be done via advanced air defense systems, or specialized satellites that are equipped for this purpose.

 

Related Quotations

Page	Quote	Author	Date
Black helicopter	“More than seven years ago a group of Americans traveled to Siberia to buy a pair of Russian Mi-17 helicopters for the CIA's post-9/11 clandestine operations in Afghanistan. As with many "black" programs, the contract had elements of craziness: Contracting officials paid the multimillion-dollar contract on a credit card at a local El Paso bar and then used the credit card rebate to redecorate their office; the team traveled under the guise of being private contractors; and the charter crew transporting the group abandoned the team in Russia in the middle of the night. Ultimately, a five-year investigation into the mission led to the conviction of the Army official in charge and the contractor who bought the helicopters on charges of corruption. The two men, currently in federal prison, are appealing their convictions. At first glance, it's a simple case: A few days after returning from Russia, the contractor paid off the second mortgage of the Army official in charge of the mission. Prosecutors argued that the contractor, Maverick Aviation, was unprepared for the mission, and the Army official helped cover up the problems in exchange for a payoff. The defendants at trial were barred from mentioning the CIA, Afghanistan or even 9/11. In an article for The New York Post, this author looks at what really happened in Siberia based on over two dozen interviews with people involved in the mission and trial. It's a story, that in some respects, is very different than the portrait painted by the government at trial. One interesting comparison not mentioned in the article is worth noting in light of recent purchases of Russian helicopters: In 2001, Maverick Aviation was paid $5 million for two freshly overhauled Mi-17s and spare parts, as well as travel and logistics for team of Army/CIA personnel, and got the helicopters out of Russia in under 30 days. In 2008, ARINC, a major U.S. defense contractor, was paid $322 million dollars to buy 22 Russian helicopters under a U.S. foreign military sales contract. Guess how many helicopters ARINC has delivered to Iraq after 18 months? Zero.”	Wired Sharon Weinberger	2009
George Carlin	“Hello. We’re the ones who control your lives. We make the decisions that affect all of you. Isn’t it interesting to know that those who run your lives would have the nerve to tell you about it in this manner? Suffer, you fools. We know everything you do, and we know where you go. What do you think the cameras are for? And the global-positioning satellites? And the Social Security numbers? You belong to us. And it can’t be changed. Sign your petitions, walk your picket lines, bring your lawsuits, cast your votes, and write those stupid letters to whomever you please; you won’t change a thing. Because we control your lives. And we have plans for you. Go back to sleep.”	George Carlin
Jimmy Carter	“I became more aware of what our intelligence services were doing. There was only one instance that I'll talk about now. We had a plane go down in the Central African Republic—a twinengine plane, small plane. And we couldn't find it. And so we oriented satellites that were going around the earth every ninety minutes to fly over that spot where we thought it might be and take photographs. We couldn't find it. So the director of the CIA came and told me that he had contacted a woman in California that claimed to have supernatural capabilities. And she went in a trance, and she wrote down latitudes and longitudes, and we sent our satellite over that latitude and longitude, and there was the plane.”	Jimmy Carter GQ	2005
Psychic	“I became more aware of what our intelligence services were doing. There was only one instance that I'll talk about now. We had a plane go down in the Central African Republic—a twinengine plane, small plane. And we couldn't find it. And so we oriented satellites that were going around the earth every ninety minutes to fly over that spot where we thought it might be and take photographs. We couldn't find it. So the director of the CIA came and told me that he had contacted a woman in California that claimed to have supernatural capabilities. And she went in a trance, and she wrote down latitudes and longitudes, and we sent our satellite over that latitude and longitude, and there was the plane.”	Jimmy Carter GQ	2005

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