more Guess Who's (gonna be) Watching You?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jim Thompson <jim () netgate com>
Date: January 29, 2007 2:40:38 PM EST
To: "Synthesis: Law and Technology"  
<synthesis.law.and.technology () gmail com>
Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>, Dewayne Hendricks  
<dewayne () warpspeed com>
Subject: Re: [IP] more Guess Who's (gonna be) Watching You?

Geosynchronous orbits (at the equator) are typically some 22,200  
miles (approx 36,000 km)  'up' (AMSL).  Geosyncronous orbits have  
difficulty covering high lattitudes.
Satellites in geosynchronous or geostationary orbits are almost  
always used for communications (including relays for sigint and other  
spy activities, to be sure.)  Imaging satellites
want to be closer to the earth for a variety of reasons.

Most KH-11/12s are launched into sun-synchronous orbits, not  
geocentric orbits, in fact, 'geocentric orbit' describes the orbit of  
*any* object orbiting the earth.

The last KH-11 was launched on Oct 19, 2005 at an orbit that varies  
between 275km and 1020km, or 170 to 1641 miles AMSL, with the orbit  
configured
either as sun-synchronous or a highly ellipitcal orbit (HEO).  A HEO  
has the advantage of long dwell times at a point in the sky during  
the approach to and
descent from apogee, with some dwell times (on target) as long as 12  
hours.

The KH-11 is commonly thought to have a maximum resolution of around  
6", mostly limited by the modulation transfer function and  
atmospheric degradation.
The KH12 is commonly thought to improve this to 4".  http:// 
www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/kh-12.htm

Dropping altitude radically improves resolution.   A blimp-mounted  
platform with the KH-11/KH-12 optics would provide sub-centimeter  
resolution.   While such a platform may employ
sensors in the visual spectrum, I find it far more likely that it  
would employ both infrared sensors and synthetic aperture radar.    
SAR, in-particular, would provide for absolute cloud penetration (and
the ability to "see in the dark".)    Since the ISIS sensors are  
designed to cover the 'skin' of the airship, the aperture would be  
*huge*.

You may wish to do a bit more reading:
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do? 
dsp=fec&ci=14477&rsbci=5&fti=0&ti=0&sc=400
http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/systems/haa.htm
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2006/01/lockheed-wins-1492m- 
contract-for-high-altitude-airship-updated/index.php
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2006/05/darpas-isis-project-seeks- 
slow-soaring-surveillance-superiority/index.php
http://www.darpa.mil/sto/space/isis.html

On Jan 29, 2007, at 7:47 AM, David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Synthesis: Law and Technology"  
> <synthesis.law.and.technology () gmail com>
> Date: January 29, 2007 11:39:55 AM EST
> To: dave () farber net, Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Guess Who's (gonna be) Watching You?
>
> Dave,
>
> A bit of caution on this one:
>
> "It's designed to float 12 miles above the earth, far above planes  
> and weather systems. It will be powered by
> solar energy, and will stay in a geocentric orbit for up to a year"
>
> when they talk about a 12-mile orbit my unauthorized misuse of  
> physics detector (UMOF) goes off.  Seems at first glance to be an  
> over-sensationalized story.  Besides, if they can already do this  
> from space why bother with cameras that are lower?  Also something  
> at lower altitude would be prone to have more of its sight blocked  
> by clouds at any one time (since it is closer to them).  Is there a  
> reason to fear Big Brother may see the acne on our faces?  Or the  
> bald spots on our heads? I think they can already see more than  
> enough.  This does not appear to be more terrifying than the  
> existing sattelite imagery, does it?
>
> Dan Steinberg
>
> SYNTHESIS:Law & Technology
> 35, du Ravin phone: (613) 794-5356
> Chelsea, Quebec
> J9B 1N1
>
>
> On 1/29/07, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Dewayne Hendricks < dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: January 29, 2007 8:37:20 AM EST
> To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Guess Who's (gonna be) Watching You?
> Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com
>
> [Note:  This item comes from reader Randall.  DLH]
>
> From: Randall <rvh40 () insightbb com >
> Date: January 23, 2007 11:03:55 PM PST
> To: David Farber <dave () farber net>, dewayne () warpspeed com
> Cc: johnmacsgroup () yahoogroups com
> Subject: Guess Who's (gonna be) Watching You?
>
> <http://htdaw.blogsource.com/post.mhtml?post_id=423757>
>
> Big Brother's new toy: Another bloated gas bag watching you from  
> the sky
> 2006-05-30
> By James Renner
> Cleveland Free Times
>
>
> Last week, a fire ignited at the Akron Airdock that once housed a
> fleet of Goodyear blimps. Firemen rushed to the 211-foot-tall
> structure and quickly doused the flames. Reporters and photographers
> descended on the landmark. Many were surprised to learn the blimps
> were no longer being stored there.
>
> Turns out Lockheed Martin -- the company that gave us the Trident
> intercontinental ballistic missile -- was renovating the site for an
> upcoming project when the fire started. It's being turned into a
> hangar for a prototype airship. If you're frightened of this
> administration's habit of spying on American citizens, you may want
> to stop reading.
>
> The prototype is called the High Altitude Airship, or HAA. Lockheed
> Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors in Akron won the $40 million
> contract from the Missile Defense Agency to build HAA in 2003. It is
> essentially another blimp. A giant one. Seventeen times the size of
> the Goodyear dirigible. It's designed to float 12 miles above the
> earth, far above planes and weather systems. It will be powered by
> solar energy, and will stay in a geocentric orbit for up to a year,
> undetectable by ground-based radar. You can't see it from the ground.
> But it can see you.
>
> "The possibilities are endless for homeland security," says Kate
> Dunlap, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson. "It could house cameras, and
> other surveillance equipment. It would be an eye in the sky."
>
> According to a summary released by the U.S. Army Space and Missile
> Defense Command, the HAA can watch over a circle of countryside 600
> miles in diameter. That's everything between Toledo and New York
> City. And they want to build 11. With high-res cameras, that could
> mean constant surveillance of every square inch of American soil. "If
> you had a fleet of them, this could be used for border surveillance,"
> suggests Dunlap.
>
> Launch date: 2009.
>
> Of course, mimicking its defense of warrantless wiretapping and phone-
> log data mining, the government maintains it only wants to protect
> its citizens from external threats. But as any geek can tell you,
> blimps were ubiquitous in The Watchmen, the seminal '80s graphic
> novel in which heroes have been driven underground and Nixon is still
> president.
>
> Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not watching you.
>
> <http://athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=25082>
>
>
>
>
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