Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 390 posts

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#251

Post by xvector »

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #245

This makes me wonder. Obviously everyone in the world knows that USA operates a few dozen "stealth bombers" and has for the last couple decades, or so. Has any other country developed these kinds of aircrafts? Similarly, submarines. USA operates many stealth submarines as well. Does any other country operate stealth submarines? I'm aware that USA spends about 1 tril a year on military stuff but these just seems bizar…

That is an interesting point.

Both China and Russia have stealth fighters, but not stealth bombers, from my understanding.

China's Xian H-20 was to be announced this year. Russia's Tupolev PAK-DA is scheduled for 2028.

I suspect that the need for stealth bombers is rather low:

- If you want to carry large bomb payloads, ICBMs do the trick.

- For smaller bomb payloads, they can fit in the fighters.

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#252

Post by dylan604 »

op00to wrote: post #225
willis936 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flying a plane around the planet sounds a lot more expensive financially and thermodynamically than just beaming down images from an object constantly falling into the views you want to see.

Or you could just strap a camera to a few commercial airliners and have full coverage.

You'd only have full coverage of the jet routes. They don't just fly willy nilly across the globe.

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#254

Post by dsl »

can16358p wrote: post #131
birdyrooster wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you aren’t military and then no infrared for you

I literally have a 720nm lowpass infrared filter in front of me for use in photography. Infrared imaging is not "military", it's public, common, and legal.

I think what they meant is prior to the "digital farming revolution" if you called up a satellite/arial imagery company and requested anything other than visible spectrum, you'd not only get some strange looks - they'd also alert the government.

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#255

Post by dylan604 »

chrissnell wrote: post #121
jcims wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I asked google maps to get directions from there to Whiteman AFB. Unfortunately, flight directions were not available.

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#256

Post by reportingsjr »

fullstop wrote: post #199
willis936 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The google maps scale shows the plane as being pretty close to that length as well. I think the satellite is high enough up that altitude scaling for aircraft is going to be minimal. I see about a 10 foot separation between colors. Velocity = distance / time 400 mph is 587 fps. 10 / 587 = 17 ms

Do they actually use satellites for their "satellite" view? I always assumed that it was done by aircraft.

They only use aircraft around larger urban areas. Satellite imagery is used for rural areas. You can see the resolution difference by seeing how far you can zoom in.

If you zoom in on a road near the pinned location for this post, and then go to, say, downtown kansas city, and zoom in you'll see a pretty significant difference.

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#257

Post by amcoastal »

samhw wrote: post #249
amcoastal wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly! I'm working on some stuff now to exploit this very effect, the small time difference in the bands can be used to find velocities of moving objects.

This is incredibly cool. What's the application (if it's possible to obscure whatever details you don't want to divulge)?

Its coastal physics work, you can infer near shore conditions by watching wave propagation.

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#258

Post by dragonwriter »

BrazzVuvuzela wrote: post #175
dragonwriter wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> During the 1999 yugoslavia bombings, after the first one was shot down That was a F-117 Night Hawk “Stealth Fighter” (a type which is now retired), not a B-2 Spirit “Stealth Bomber”.

Incidentally, the F-117's fighter designation was a misnomer; they were only armed with bombs.

Not just the “F” (“A” would be expected from role), also the “117” was anomalous (under the standard numbering convention, it should have been something like the 19 if it was in the F series, which is the designation that speculation about it was typically associated with before it was officially announced.)

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#259

Post by AussieWog93 »

nopenopenopeno wrote: post #247
Scene_Cast2 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anyone wondering about what a pushboom sensor is - http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.72.... Basically a 1D sensor that acquires a 2D image because the camera itself is moving. In this case, I'd imagine that there are 3 such sensors for RGB.

Is CMOS a type of pushboom sensor?

CMOS is a manufacturing method for integrated circuits.

Any type of sensor could be CMOS.

Re: Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps

#260

Post by jeabays »

systemvoltage wrote: post #112
teodorlu wrote: post #19

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…

The B-2 Spirit is insane. People usually know the SR-71, but I personally think the B-2 is straight up savage - aesthetically alien, impossibly aerial, and incomprehensibly powerful. Its silhoutte is terrifying: https://i.imgur.com/WqMvxXg.jpg What a beast: https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/air/b-2-stealth-b...

No post body was provided.
Post reply on HN