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What a tweet tells us about spy satellites [video]

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Re: What a tweet tells us about spy satellites [video]

#62
post #28

Two things I got from the video: 1) The videos of the launches are scary, especially the launches with the "A" rockets, and the fireball surrounding the rocket at the beginning of the launch. 2) It's a shame the patch with the Klingon text never made it out into the wild.

What I got from the video is that we have hundreds of Hubbles around the Earth but only one of them is pointed outwards at the stars.

Re: What a tweet tells us about spy satellites [video]

#63

Scott Manley has a lot of great content. He also does Let’s Play of Kerbal Space Program which is how I initially came to know of him. His videos on rocketry and Space Stuff are basically how I keep up to date.

The man is a legend. Really knowledgeable but fun at the same time.

He's also a DJ, I believe.

Re: What a tweet tells us about spy satellites [video]

#65

How it was tracked back to USA 224: https://github.com/cbassa/satellite_analysis/blob/master/nah...

For a bit more corroboration of that analysis, this is what SunCalc says the sun direction would be at that time (9:44:20 UTC, 14:14:20 PM local time) pinned at the base of what (i believe) is that specific launch pad. Elevation of the satellite will affect the apparent angle some, but this is pretty convincing:

https://imgur.com/bSDLBmI

Re: What a tweet tells us about spy satellites [video]

#66
post #28

Two things I got from the video: 1) The videos of the launches are scary, especially the launches with the "A" rockets, and the fireball surrounding the rocket at the beginning of the launch. 2) It's a shame the patch with the Klingon text never made it out into the wild.

What I got from the video is that we have hundreds of Hubbles around the Earth but only one of them is pointed outwards at the stars.

Yeah. A couple of years ago the NRO discovered they had a couple more sitting in a warehouse they forgot about, and gifted them to NASA. Sadly they still haven’t been launched due to NASA nonsense. But still.. the intelligence agencies had two extra Hubble’s they didn’t know what to do with.

Re: What a tweet tells us about spy satellites [video]

#67
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * imagine how annoyed astronomers would be if they found out the biggest most advanced space telescope in history was in space and pointing down* Well, rumor is that Hubble was just a repurposed spy telescope, so astronomers probably should be annoyed :)

Hubble wasn't but a pair of Key Hole satellites (KH-11) were. https://www.americaspace.com/2012/06/06/top-secret-kh-11-spy...

Hubble was built by the same contractors that build the Keyhole satellites. They whole idea from the beginning was to reuse the spy satellite hardware for astronomy.

Re: What a tweet tells us about spy satellites [video]

#68
post #5
post #4

The good news is that there is a redacted area in the image, so Trump probably didn't just snap and post ... evidence of some limit to the impulsiveness of the commander in chief.

The black box on the top left? I'm assuming that's just redacting the classification level, which was surely Top Secret.

Not just Top Secret. It would also be classified as TK (Talent Keyhole).

The classification system is compartmentalized to limit exposure of things -- like raw intelligence & intelligence gathering capabilities -- to those who really need to know.

Re: What a tweet tells us about spy satellites [video]

#69
post #4

The good news is that there is a redacted area in the image, so Trump probably didn't just snap and post ... evidence of some limit to the impulsiveness of the commander in chief.

I agree that Trump "probably didn't just snap and post". His Twitter account has always been shared between Trump personally and his staff. Frankly, calmly sharing facts and evidence like this is 180° from the pattern of Trump's more impulsive tweets. Edit: Furthermore, Trump's personal phone is an Android, and this particular tweet was from iPhone.

It's been reported he uses 2 iPhones: https://9to5mac.com/2018/05/21/president-trump-iphone-use/

Re: What a tweet tells us about spy satellites [video]

#70
post #63

Scott Manley has a lot of great content. He also does Let’s Play of Kerbal Space Program which is how I initially came to know of him. His videos on rocketry and Space Stuff are basically how I keep up to date.

The man is a legend. Really knowledgeable but fun at the same time. He's also a DJ, I believe.

Hence his username on many platforms “DJSnM”.
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