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Close encounters of the classified kind

thespacereview.com

21–30 of 44 posts

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it was confirmed that this satellite had extraordinarily high communications bandwidth and was speculated to be used either for SIGINT or for operating UAVs. Given that the recently launched civillian satellite Viasat-2 has a bandwidth of 300Gb/s and a reported expected latency of about 25ms, its not hard to imagine that a classified satellite like this may have crazy high bandwidth and low latency, perfect for rec…

Not sure where you got the 25ms number from. Viasat-2 is in geostationary orbit at 35000km. The roundtrip speed of light delay alone is 240ms.

I’ll try to find the source. I guess it must have been mistaken given what you said.

EDIT: Haven’t found the source. I did find that the existing ViaSat-1 latency (on Exede, and actual ping times not satellite->ground latency) is 600 to 700ms, so that’s roughly in line with what you said. Exede do a bunch of latency compensation where they can so people often report lower latency, but for eg online games that obviously won’t work.

I also know that what I read before was specific to airplane in-flight internet, although I doubt commercial flight altitude make any difference to latency, so that’s likely an irrelevant point.

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#22

Very interesting. If I recall the details correctly, there have been observations recently of another NRO satellite in a geostationary orbit above the middle east and west Asia, that apparently can maneuver and reposition itself. And if I'm still not mistaken (may have been a different satellite) it was confirmed that this satellite had extraordinarily high communications bandwidth and was speculated to be used eithe…

Sounds like you could be talking about PAN. Here's an article by the same author:

http://thespacereview.com/article/3095/1

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#23
post #22

Very interesting. If I recall the details correctly, there have been observations recently of another NRO satellite in a geostationary orbit above the middle east and west Asia, that apparently can maneuver and reposition itself. And if I'm still not mistaken (may have been a different satellite) it was confirmed that this satellite had extraordinarily high communications bandwidth and was speculated to be used eithe…

Sounds like you could be talking about PAN. Here's an article by the same author: http://thespacereview.com/article/3095/1

Yes! That was it, thank you!

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it was confirmed that this satellite had extraordinarily high communications bandwidth and was speculated to be used either for SIGINT or for operating UAVs. Given that the recently launched civillian satellite Viasat-2 has a bandwidth of 300Gb/s and a reported expected latency of about 25ms, its not hard to imagine that a classified satellite like this may have crazy high bandwidth and low latency, perfect for rec…

Not sure where you got the 25ms number from. Viasat-2 is in geostationary orbit at 35000km. The roundtrip speed of light delay alone is 240ms.

SpaceX's proposed satellites will be LEO, allowing for low latency.

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#25
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reynolds has been a CIA front for decades. Wake up!

Typical FUD from an obvious shill account for Saran Wrap.

Hope it is not too late but the aluminum foil meme was a Department Psi op. Interestingly enough it was Russian (well Soviet) researchers that showed that aluminum in fact enhances susceptibility in the remote subjects.

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#26
post #18
post #13

A test and demo of capabilities such that Russians and Chinese notice is the most plausible explanation I'd guess. Not sure if they cared if amateurs noticed or not.

It's impossible to hide anything in leo from Russians or Chinese. They have their own radar and telescope surveillance networks. They always notice.

Stealth satellites aren't impossible given that all the tech has already been developed for Earthbound use, and unlike aircraft you only have to make the Earth-facing side stealthy.

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#28
post #20
post #3

Allow me to don a shiny new cap of quality Reynolds aluminum foil and say this. If it was meant to be observed, and if it was intentional, and if it was nearly "danger close", couldn't this suggest that USA 276 is a platform in development not just to deploy sensors for observation but perhaps to, in the future host systems for engaging and destroying satellites.

Would there be a necessity to get close to a satellite to destroy it? Some sort of rocket could be launched from quite far away without needing much fuel if it was already in a similar orbit.

No need for such a complex solution, the Chinese just launch a missile from the ground: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_anti-satellite_...

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#29
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you (and GP) for the Paglen reference, I remember watching this talk but could not find it again afterward. Now bookmarked. I especially like how the CCC crowd slowly realizes why a photographer/artist would be talking at this conf at all. There's definitely a "ho shit, that guy ain't playing" moment there.

I was there, and that was exactly how most of the audience did react after 15 min. into his talk.

Many people need to watch this. It reformatted much of my belief system in a disruptive way. That guy is something else.

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#30
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typical FUD from an obvious shill account for Saran Wrap.

Hope it is not too late but the aluminum foil meme was a Department Psi op. Interestingly enough it was Russian (well Soviet) researchers that showed that aluminum in fact enhances susceptibility in the remote subjects.

I think it was MIT that did a ti foil hat study and found it actually increased emf inside the head.
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