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From: karn@faline.bellcore.com (Phil R. Karn)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.crypt
Subject: Re: satellites
Summary: spysat nonsense
Message-ID: <1699@faline.bellcore.com>
Date: 11 Jan 88 23:08:46 GMT
References: <873@uop.edu> <2166@umd5.umd.edu> <4910@well.UUCP> <1952@netsys.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc
Lines: 19

> On the other hand, several public sources have reported that
> resolutions good enough to read the brand of coffin nails
> being smoked by the guard on duty in Moscow are in use. 

Nonsense, assuming you're talking about orbiting reconaissance
satellites (as opposed to low-flying aircraft).  Do a little math and
determine the visible-light resolution limit of a 2-meter diameter
mirror (roughly the largest that could be comfortably carried inside the
payload fairing of a Titan from Vandenburg) at a distance of 500 miles
(the perigee of a KH-11 orbit plus allowance for slant range).

You'll end up with something on the order of a foot, which just so
happens to be the resolution of the KH-11 aircraft carrier construction
pictures that showed up in Av Week last year.

Making a project secret doesn't exempt it from the laws of physics. (Too
bad the SDI folks don't realize this. :-))

Phil