TheOttoman
Posts: 139
Joined: 12/14/2017 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: DWReese So, my question is does the satellite with the 19500 mile range see ALL things that far? Or, does it see buildings at that range, but tanks at say, 5000 miles? Is there a size scale? Also, is there a "power" level on each satellite? Is the 19500 range satellite about three times better than the 6500-range one? Is it ten times better than the 2000-range satellite? For the purposes of this conversation, the 19,500 mile range is the "functional" range, meaning that anything in that circle is what the satellite can see. There is no real size scale, nor is there a power scale. You should think of it just as a camera orbiting in space focused downward to Earth. Whatever is in the viewfinder is all that the camera can see. quote:
ORIGINAL: DWReese The reason that I ask is sometimes you read/hear that a satellite needs to be re-programmed to go "over" an area and it might only be there for 13 minutes or so. I see that they travel very fast, but if you have a 19500-range you can probably see things for a long time, unless the detection range diminishes the further away from the actual satellite is from where you are. Orbiting satellites are constantly moving and so the consumers of that data understand that they provide "point in time" information, so an ESM satellite will provide info that is "at this point in time, in this area" (say a shipping lane, or a known naval route), there were these emissions registered. Note that "a point in time" could be considered anywhere from a few minutes to more. Geosyn satellites (like those used for Early Warning) sit in a particular are and scan what it can see, so it can always watch out for whatever it needs to.. so an Early Warning sat, sitting over the middle of the Pacific, for example, can cover the entire Korean peninsula 24/7. quote:
I would hate to think that to three soldiers are sitting along a forest line setting up some SAMs that aren't even active yet and this satellite spots them from 5000 miles away. If that's the case, this thing is unbelievable. It knows all and sees all. Is that possible, or would it have to know where to look for them? Something like your example is more/better handled with UAVs, because it's more cost effective and operationally effective, but it is not outside of the realm of reality to have something like that on a strategic level of intelligence.
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