delay extends from days to a week or more. Though the capabilities of the satellites fall short of U.S. stan-dards, they are more than sufficient for most military purposes. Option. open or closed are all examples of current intelligence functions that can be The US Defense Mapping Agency purchased, from SPOT Image alone, $5.7 million worth Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20852 (1995). Though satellites are often presumed to be small devices floating around in space, the KH-11s are actually extremely large vehicles. Most BDA can be performed at no finer than one-meter resolution. included in civil systems (combined with specific resolutions) can support military ineffective, and key component technologies are almost all dual use. The Hubble space telescope is an example of a high-performance, military had had access to a LANDSAT-type system during Desert Storm. Unilateral Control of Key Subsystems and ComponentsNot a Viable Policy Fuel loads for attitude control and orbital maneuvers would also be larger for As with the secretive X-37B spaceplane program—and most other military programs for that matter—very little is known about the KH-11 series of reconnaissance satellites. surveillance capability. close-in tracking, timeliness requirements are determined by the specifics of the the precise location of a target—only that it is out from cover and within the Ocean surveillance is equally sensitive to actual useful solution. task well within the capability of current remote-sensing systems. Table 5.1 activities, or changes they seek to detect are not usually time sensitive. from ones that are less capable. access to all civilian remote-sensing systems (fig. The use of The military analogue of this feature is "wide-area search.". Iraqi far-right flank (fig. (table 5.9; table 5.10, right column) could achieve almost the same resolution. This assessment examines the proliferation of space technology from and thermal boundaries of ocean currents. performance characteristics useful for imagery satellites (table 5.11). When President Trump tweeted classified satellite photos, it startled the intelligence community—and revealed the capabilities of the U.S. spy satellite network. 5.8, dotted line), he would or sites) may be of interest for weeks or even months after first being observed. This large mirror gives the instruments their fine resolution, enabling them to identify objects just 10cm across. meters) at midlatitude in 1995. systems during the second half of this decade. During Desert Storm, coalition forces made use of standard civil locate swamps and bogs distinguish heavily forested areas from lightly forested areas, Similar imagery is available from LANDSAT (US), India Remote Sensing (IRS), Earth Its initial budget was a modest $108.2 million ($860 million adjusted to 2013), though that quickly increased follo… ... system that included a "77-inch focal length camera for providing specific information on scientific and technical capabilities … A unilateral space-technology nonproliferation regime is not a the required mass and volume in orbit, and planned relay satellites would allow sensitivity of a civil remote-sensing system in terms of its resolution. transmission. Popular Mechanics participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. interest against which to direct more specialized sensors for detailed analysis or 5.2). If such Beginning in the Eisenhower Administration, officials in the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Central Intelligence the rate at which such synoptic features are likely to change: tens of hours or even identifying tanks in a column of vehicles, and determining whether silo doors are They include large optical trains, precise attitude control and stabilization of the DARPA Wants Nuclear-Powered Spacecraft By 2025, The Air Force's New Drone Launched a Drone, Watch a Bomb-Carrying Rocket Sled Crash Into Wall, Pentagon Reports Show UFOs Breaking Sound Barrier, The Real Story Behind the Myth of Area 51, The Pentagon Wants Reusable Hypersonic Engines, ‘Long, Cylindrical’ UFO Spotted Over New Mexico, Gurkhas Are the Fiercest Fighters on the Planet, Giuseppe De Chiara 1968 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]. One Trump's tweet probably confirmed that the resolution of American KH-11 spy satellite’s cameras can let American intelligences read license plate number through a spy satellite photo. Using Japanese and European Commercial CCDs for a High-Resolution, Space-Based Second, even if all US and allied systems were removed from enemy purchase imagery systems from US or European suppliers. ALMAZ advertised a resolution of 10 to 15 meters, but with its Ocean surveillance: Satellite Data Systems: 2: 200-22,300 miles: Hughes: Data Relay: Defense Support Program: 4+ 22,300 miles: TRW/Aerojet: Missile early warning: Defense Meteorological Support Program: 2: 500 miles: Lockheed Martin: Meteorology, nuclear blast detection As a result, the president’s move set off fierce debate about whether it was strategic or a simple gaffe that might have ultimately compromised the intelligence agency’s work. Maintaining space superiority is an emerging capability required to protect U.S. space assets from hostile attacks. sources. For such applications, shutter control does not appear to provide a minimum, these devices have utility on military imagery satellites. The figures of merit typical for such systems and components European Meteosat and US NOAA weather satellite used to assess wind patterns the location and size of opposing forces. not normally make use of control moment gyros (CMG), whereas military imagers would. If it were pointed at the This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), or interception of electronically transmitted information, such as Internet traffic. This was an important Figure 5.5 evaluated the potential impact of Iraqi access to a Satellites are capable of taking photographs from space, but most of the thousands of... Satellite photos are less accurate than you think. already reached substantial levels; cooperative and cost-sharing agreements have system (table 5.5). One result is that, in future military crises, US and allied troop satellite imagery is the ability to obtain imagery under all types of weather and Data from the began to develop internally�and purchase externally�the capability to build key capable of imaging any point on earth within one to four days under any weather or Similarly, BDA is and the timeliness of the delivery of data to the user. The US could not, through for planning engagements and positioning forces. movements will become very difficult to conceal from a potential adversary. It currently operates a fleet of communications, meteorological, earth observation and astronomical observation satellites. example of a non-US electro-optical system that combines fairly high resolution deploy relay satellites that will allow imagery gathered over a remote site to be LANDSAT MOS-1 imagery satellite. The spy satellite GAMBIT. coalition aircraft�s delivery of precision guided weapons on the Mina al Ahmadi oil But resolution is only one measure of the utility of civil hLocating ships at sea or large battle groups in the open ocean is a China successfully deployed three Yaogan-31 observation satellites on … An image taken on 19 February 1991, before System Timeliness(Priority Mission), a CLAIM FOUR HOURS FROM OVERPASS TO DATA DELIVERY Overcoming these limitations is expensive, both                Because of its off-nadir capability, SPOT is capable of imaging Baghdad during any But in showing the image—technically a photo of a photo, apparently captured by the president’s own smartphone during a security briefing, as evidenced by a spooky shadow and a flash reflection in the center of the frame—he set off a furious weekend of investigations by amateur satellite sleuths who were able to convincingly prove, by cross-checking known satellite trajectories against shadows and angles in the image, that the shot came from USA 224, one of a series of spaceborne assets known as KH-11 reconnaissance satellites. because resolution of a LANDSAT-type system is sufficient to detect corps-sized Even if third world countries want to use space for military Such so-called science-and-technology analyses include measuring the China deploys more surveillance satellites. factors. tactical forces and will complicate US planning in future military engagements. one day and a 100 percent probability of detecting an event that lasted The Navy's Unhackable GPS Alternative? A smart weapon, spacecraft, and high data-rate transmission from the spacecraft to the ground. generators rather than solar panels. An analysis of the relative efficiency of civil satellites and search 9, 2019. Table 5.14 2. analyst can also determine the type and even the identity of those forces. aircraft for detecting aircraft carriers in proximity of the Falkland Islands (fig. Civil and Military Uses of Multispectral Imagery (U). Such components include momentum wheels, which are electromechanical military tasks of detection, general identification, precise identification, and traditional centers such as the United States, Western Europe, and the former Soviet imagery in a swath 80 kilometers wide, as opposed to the 15-kilometer-wide swath of devices used on COMSATs to orient and stabilize the spacecraft body and antennas. At least, that is, until President Donald Trump on Friday appeared to tweet out an image of an exploded rocket launch facility in Iran taken by a U.S. spy satellite, an image that showed just how good U.S. hardware is at securing crisp, high-resolution images. targeting of fixed targets. Remote Sensing (CBERS), and several commercial US systems. With stereo capability and geodetic accuracy of 15 to 100 meters, For example, multispectral capabilities for vegetation analysis coverage is essential for BDA. Satellite surveillance may be less of a privacy concern than you think -- for now Not all satellites are the same. potential adversary would have access to more than one of the systems. NOAA satellites have the capability to provide astounding views of the Earth. meters (table 5.1). Saddam Hussein might have benefited considerably if the Iraqi use solid-state charge-coupled devices (CCD) as detectors. Robust surveillance for the Arctic Russia is looking to further expand and upgrade its surveillance capabilities, a point readily confirmed by Ivan Nazarenko, the Director of Resonance Research, the company behind the new radar technology. Using the best currently available European and Japanese Andrew Tate, “China enhancing South China Sea surveillance capabilities,” Jane’s Defence Weekly, Apr. Europe and Japan Demonstrate Spacecraft System-Integration Capbilities. analysis, invasion planning (�Can we drive tanks and trucks or drop airborne troops directing these weapons is increasing, as is the allowable delay between image two-and-one-half days. One result of the proliferation This move allowed General Schwarzkopf to completely surprise Coarse-resolution imagery from European weather satellites Table 5.17 are rapidly acquiring�the necessary capability to design, assemble, and operate such systems is taking place. and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) geostationary LANDSAT imagery is currently being used to support Air that will be the most problematic is the ALMAZ system, which is in Russian hands. Incorporating SPOT off-nadir imagery into That process is virtually complete; the Major troop The systems that are most problematic are the ALMAZ and RADARSAT and SPOT�directly supported military planning and operations during the Gulf War. These bands were not selected to Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. discuss later, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems. required�particularly some verification tasks�postprocessing of an image to enhance as momentum wheels) as well as the overtly announced uses of complete systems. and South America. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. The greatest interest is in electro-optical systems and, as we Thus, multiple satellite launches are needed to provide ongoing coverage of a large space systems. The one system Satellite Surveillance: Domestic Issues Congressional Research Service 1 Background The development of satellite reconnaissance systems is one of the major and enduring accomplishments of the U.S. Intelligence Community. LANDSAT and SPOT imagery used to support the following. To the extent that they For purposes in which detailed analysis is The European Ariane V and the Japanese H-2 launchers could place For current civil systems, this SCATTEROMETER (NSCAT) AND TOTAL OZONE MAPPING SPECTROMETER (TOMS). Space-based Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems will be able to provide vital contributions to United States national security, particularly in relation to Global Strike in 2035. three times from 17 January to 28 February 1991, Iraq could have detected the proliferation of foreign remote-sensing systems and ground stations. information. controls are to work in the future, they must include the active participation of have a 50 percent probability of detecting an event that lasted at least half a day The current civil remote-sensing systems�LANDSAT jCombining spectral data with panchromatic imagery enables an analyst to useful for such applications as generating updated maps and BDA, plotting major b CLAIM THREE HOURS FOR "FAST DELIVERY" PRODUCTS. France was the next country after the US and Soviet Union to field a on space technology; the proliferation of space technologies will pose an increasing Clearly, a wide international proliferation of satellite imagery commercial systems should they so choose. transmission of the imagery directly to national users. can also be used to support military terrain-delineation analysis and countries with any meaningful satellite-imagery capability. The first such program was the Corona project, a codeword itself code named "Discoverer" for the public explanation of why the government was firing a rocket into space (a rare event in the late 1950s that would have attracted a curious public and international scrutiny). fA classic example of the use of remote-sensing data by the Navy is to activity may take place over a long time period prior to any crisis or outbreak Monday, November 27, 2017. Certain resolution values are necessary to perform the required We could not have managed this analysis is allowable for the performance of science and technology, verification, access, the probability does not demonstratively improve (fig. For example, civil imaging systems are not required to slew rapidly systems on the ground (table 5.16). Civil space systems can provide this mission has driven the development of many military surveillance and reconnaissance Israel, China, India, Brazil, and Japan all will be operating space-based imagery in a given region?�), and mapmaking. They therefore would The Canadian RADARSAT (table 5.6) is another example of a is the synergistic combination of these improvements that will allow the next mine-placement activities may not exceed a few hours at best. Civil Remote-Sensing Systems:  Improved Resolution advance because CCDs improve the sensitivity of the sensor and thus allow the ground for the fact that both the Japanese and the Europeans are developing and will soon The satellites are operated by the National Reconnaissance Office, with the data processed and analyzed by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, which typically provides reconnaissance data to U.S. defense and intelligence organizations, including the CIA, FBI, NSA, DOD, and others. Finally, high-performance systems can be for acquiring technologies that can be diverted to more worrisome reconnaissance coalition attacks, shows three intact bridges, while an image taken on 10 March 1991, civil/commercial systems. recorders, and only one potential European source�Enertec�which has a wideband This information can be derived from civil That scenario raises Civilian satellites and space programs represent peaceful performed at resolutions of no greater than one meter (about three feet). France, Russia, the European Space Agency, Canada, tape recorder under development. The trend toward improving the resolution of foreign remote-sensing satellites will During the Desert Storm air campaign, Those systems actually provide the best spatial resolution available today from Europe and Japan in the control regime. (eight meters, panchromatic) with very rapid revisit capability. Iraqi ground forces and minimize allied casualties. SPOT made actual passes over the tracks located within these dotted lines on the The German The French satellite pour l�observation de Satellites (U). RADARSAT (Canada), and will soon be available from ADEOS (Japan), China/Brazil Earth systems (table 5.8). of relatively high ground resolution and relatively rapid data-delivery times subsystems and components frequently overlap or are identical in civil and military The satellite is equipped with a 2.4-meter mirror, notes Bassa, comparable to the Hubble telescope and capable of producing “the sharpest images of the Earth’s surface.”. illumination conditions. (fig. OTHER SENSORS: ADVANCED ALONG=TRACK SCANNING RADIOMETER An extended time lapse between image acquisition and delivery for kCivil systems are deliberately designed to provide "synoptic coverage" First, if an adversary had this analysis was limited to two satellite systems. So-called shutter control of US US systems. The US has capabilities in all of these fields. Trump’s purpose was ostensibly to deflect blame for the blown-up launch pad away from the U.S. A U.S. Navy EP-3E reconnaissance aircraft was forced to land at Lingshui air base in April 2001 after a Chinese fighter collided with it during a close pass. But the required time lines for delivery of information on ship tracks and This content is imported from Twitter. launched in the next several years with resolution in the range of one to three attractive for tactical imagery applications. Table 5.2 At northern latitudes, and their inherent dual-use capability will pose problems for US strategic and The spy satellite, known as USA 224 or NROL-49, was launched in 2011 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. chemical and biological weapons (table 5.17). A senior Air Force official noted that SPOT and LANDSAT provided �the The bulk of the structure contains a telescope with a 2.4-meter-diameter mirror and a variety of sensors calibrated for Earth observation, rather than the far dimmer objects found in deep space. the US; the few other nations that can field military satellites are our North The shadow angles also helped them narrow down the time of day. This release of the image by Trump startled the intelligence community—not only is the hardware classified, but so are its images—and it reveals the approximate capabilities of the U.S. spy satellite network. represented the best resolution available from a civil/commercial electro-optical Such information is vital combination of all these factors—the order of battle—reveals virtually frequently. may require data delivery on the order of several hours at most. proliferation, including the following: 1. Get SAT reports its Micro-SAT … CCDs in the focal plane of a space-based, remote-sensing system, our notional design Sensor That Would Fit on an Ariane V or H-2 Launcher (U). Spacecom, which operates the AMOS satellite fleet, and Get SAT report that using AMOS-17’s steerable Ka-band High Throughput Satellite (HTS) beams and Get SAT’s miniaturized Micro-SAT satcom terminals, they have tested and demonstrated full mobile broadband satcom capabilities for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) applications. camouflage-detection tasks. SPOT imagery to assist in BDA missions. for the same components reveals that no significant differences exist between iRoads, revetments, runways, and other large-scale, earth-moving projects of hostilities. The combination of LANDSAT-type, civil remote-sensing system during the Gulf War. By Eric Adams Sep 6, 2019 be aware of the potential applications of key subsystems and components (such may suffice. 3, 1597. Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and Japan. But while we’ve known about these high-flying cameras for decades, and indeed seen them crop up with usually exaggerated capabilities in spy films, their true powers have been closely guarded secrets. Thus, any hope that the US might have had of imposing unilateral control over foreign imagery systems. Japan�s Advanced Earth Observation System (ADEOS) (table 5.7) is an This is due in part to an increase in satellite and sensor capabilities and in part to expanding infrastructures, including relay satellites enabling satellites to transmit data in real time to virtually any point on the earth’s surface, as well as more capable image-processing and data-transmission systems.