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Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

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Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#121
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're absolutely correct, but as the aircraft is much closer to the ground than the imaging satellite I disregarded it. Spherical cows and all that :) I'm sure a military analyst would do the calculations!

It actually works out to be pretty close. A satellite flying ~17k mph at 250 miles altitude would largely have the same angular displacement from the ground as a plane moving 400 mph at 31,000 feet. Most satellites fly in an easterly direction, so the question would ultimately be what the inclination of the orbit is relative to the direction of flight.

I think this plane is flying much lower and slower. The B2s are based at Whiteman AFB, which is about 25 miles south of this photograph. The prevailing winds in this part of the country are from the south, so I suspect that it is about to turn onto the final leg of its approach for a landing to the south. I’d guess that it’s no more than 8-10K’ and traveling at a 2-300 knots max.

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#122
post #63

The measured wingspan (using the Google Maps distance measure tool) is around 200 feet whereas the measured wingspan of a B-2 on the ground at nearby Whiteman AFB is the nominal 172 feet, so its altitude AGL is roughly 14% of the altitude of the camera plane that took the photo.

Good math. I don't know why everyone else is assuming this photo is from a spacecraft. Virtually all of the aerial images of America on Google Earth are taken with aircraft, not spacecraft.

The attribution on google maps for the image is for a satellite imaging company.

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#123
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would be disappointing for them to remove it for basically no reason, especially considering you can see a B-2 parked on the tarmac ( https://www.google.com/maps/place/38%C2%B043'29.9%22N+93%C2%... ) in the nearby Whiteman AFB. The B-2 was first flown 32 years ago. Its existence is neither covert or secret, but often used to do flybys at freaking football games where thousands of recording devices are present and act…

Correct, but don't misunderestimate the power of knowledge. Let's assume that some adversary is out there keeping track of these planes, and knows that they can scan Google maps for the RGB artifact by the engines to locate them reliably and programmatically. Now Google maps becomes a repository for information that adversary may use to validate other information. Maybe this confirms the schedule for some training ex…

Impressive level of paranoia from a citizen of a country with 800 bases around the world. Mad propz for your mass media.

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#124

Interesting how the three separate R/G/B images are taken independently a few ~seconds~ milliseconds apart, with a different color filter placed over the image sensor. I assume this is to maximize resolution, since no Bayer interpolation [0] is needed to demosaic the output of a traditional image sensor that integrates the color filters onto the sensor pixels themselves. As these satellites are not intended to photog…

These are pushbroom linear sensors stacked up in the focal plane. The spectral channels are physically separated by larger distance than neighboring pixels in a Bayer grid. There is a time delay between each channel sweeping over the same location that gets corrected when the final imagery is aligned. The moving plane at altitude violates assumption of a static scene and exposes the scanning behavior.

I think modern satellites have matrix sensors

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#126

The aircraft seems to be a Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit. > The Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low observable stealth technology designed for penetrating dense anti-aircraft defenses. Designed during the Cold War, it is a flying wing design with a crew of two.[1][3] The bomber is subsonic and can deploy both conventional a…

My father-in-law helped design the pilot seat for that. Unfortunately he was unable to make the transition to computer aided design. After the defense cutbacks in the 90s, he could only find minimum wage jobs for the rest of his working life.

>After the defense cutbacks in the 90s, he could only find minimum wage jobs for the rest of his working life.

That's unfortunate to hear. Hope he's doing well now, in his retirement life.

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#127
post #70

Artist James Bridle calls them "Rainbow planes" and has used this in his art. Rainbow Plane 002: Kiev. October 29, 2014: https://booktwo.org/notebook/rainbow-plane-002-kiev/ Rainbow Planes: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stml/sets/72157637938061015/

“Rather than taking a photograph, satellite sensors record electromagnetic radiation in the red, blue, green, and high-resolution panchromatic (black-and-white) bands (as well as several not visible to the human eye, as this Mapbox[2] post helpfully explains). When these bands are combined to produce a visible image, fast-moving objects – like planes in flight – don’t quite match up, producing the rainbow effect.

[2] https://blog.mapbox.com/putting-landsat-8s-bands-to-work-631...

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#130

Interesting how the three separate R/G/B images are taken independently a few ~seconds~ milliseconds apart, with a different color filter placed over the image sensor. I assume this is to maximize resolution, since no Bayer interpolation [0] is needed to demosaic the output of a traditional image sensor that integrates the color filters onto the sensor pixels themselves. As these satellites are not intended to photog…

These are pushbroom linear sensors stacked up in the focal plane. The spectral channels are physically separated by larger distance than neighboring pixels in a Bayer grid. There is a time delay between each channel sweeping over the same location that gets corrected when the final imagery is aligned. The moving plane at altitude violates assumption of a static scene and exposes the scanning behavior.

Is the R/G/B separation greater because these sensors are built like TDI CCD lines?

edit: Seems like pushbroom is the name for TDI when it's put in a satellite.

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