What a tweet tells us about spy satellites [video] • Hacker News Board

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

#51

Post by akira2501 » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 6:02 PM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #48

aedocw wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But we followed the making of hubble long before it launched. Why would anyone believe such a silly rumor when the development of the telescope was in the open?

Do you not understand that if a top secret spy satellite is gifted to astronomers, a cover story - i.e. a lie - will be made up about how it is developed by brilliant civilians?

Likewise it should be understood that the more complicated the coverup and the more detailed the lies, the more likely that cover story is to fall apart.

Given the cooperation with the ESA and with the difficulties in grinding the main mirror, I find it far less likely that it was a platform gifted to NASA by an intelligence agency.

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

#52

Post by mistermann » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 6:07 PM UTC

justforyou wrote: post #12

antonioevans wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...are you assuming that there isn't someone at Twitter who monitors Presidential Posts before they go out. I assume there must be.

Twitter can't keep it's CEO's account secure, and does not review his posts. I doubt they do anything special for the POTUS aside from exempting his account from the platform's rules.

Which rules is he exempt from?

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

#53

Post by mrob » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 6:13 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #18

rocky1138 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but if there is video instead of a still frame, it may be possible to put together what the characters on the plate are.

Not with that resolution (7cm / pixel).

We know what can be written on license plates, and we know that license plates don't change over short times, so it's possible to determine which characters best match the sequence of frames even if no individual frame is readable. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-resolution_imaging

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

#54

Post by mNovak » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 6:32 PM UTC

alkonaut wrote: post #21

vinaypai wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The resolution of this satellite is about 5-7 cm per pixel which is about the limit of what's possible with the 2.4m mirror it uses. You'd need a mirror at least 10x as large to read license plates, and that's if they were pointing upward.

There are certainly no 20-30m telescopes in space (Also, imagine how annoyed astronomers would be if they found out the biggest most advanced space telescope in history was in space and pointing down...). I do wonder what would be possible to resolve using multiple 2.4m scopes to create a larger synthetic aperture? Resolving text on a license plate which would be at a very oblique angle (so more atmosphere) is probab…

Perhaps worth noting, there are certainly telescopes of this scale in space--they're just radio telescopes, where the reflector can conveniently be unfurled after launch.

You can glance at this thread [0] for comparison of commercial and speculated military antenna scales (up to 100m!)

[0] https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/32884/what-is-the-...

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

#55

Post by text_exch » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 6:34 PM UTC

makomk wrote: post #9

runlevel1 wrote: post #3

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

The really astounding part of all this is that hobbyists have been monitoring the exact orbits of all the US spy satellites for years. They know exactly where they're overhead and when. That kind of capability used to be something that only a handful of states had, and now people just do it from their homes and post it to the internet.

https://xkcd.com/1910/

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

#56

Post by judge2020 » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 6:37 PM UTC

mistermann wrote: post #52

justforyou wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter can't keep it's CEO's account secure, and does not review his posts. I doubt they do anything special for the POTUS aside from exempting his account from the platform's rules.

Which rules is he exempt from?

All of them:

https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2019/publicint... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20295754)

> there are certain cases where it may be in the public’s interest to have access to certain Tweets, even if they would otherwise be in violation of our rules. On the rare occasions when this happens, we'll place a notice – a screen you have to click or tap through before you see the Tweet – to provide additional context and clarity. We’ll also take steps to make sure the Tweet is not algorithmically elevated on our service

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

#57

Post by throwawaywego » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 6:40 PM UTC

mistermann wrote: post #52

justforyou wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter can't keep it's CEO's account secure, and does not review his posts. I doubt they do anything special for the POTUS aside from exempting his account from the platform's rules.

Which rules is he exempt from?

[flagged]

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

#58

Post by mustacheemperor » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 6:46 PM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #48

aedocw wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But we followed the making of hubble long before it launched. Why would anyone believe such a silly rumor when the development of the telescope was in the open?

Do you not understand that if a top secret spy satellite is gifted to astronomers, a cover story - i.e. a lie - will be made up about how it is developed by brilliant civilians?

I understand you believe that but I don’t have to believe it myself and that kind of condescending tone isn’t really necessary here, especially defending a conspiracy theory. The existing publicized NRO grants, including the keyhole satellites mentioned elsewhere in the thread, suggest the simpler answer is more accurate. The Hubble development was heavily publicized through its lifecycle, including the repair after it was deployed. Why bother with such a performance when next time the NRO donates a satellite they publish about it for the PR?

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

#59

Post by oh_sigh » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 6:49 PM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #48

aedocw wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But we followed the making of hubble long before it launched. Why would anyone believe such a silly rumor when the development of the telescope was in the open?

Do you not understand that if a top secret spy satellite is gifted to astronomers, a cover story - i.e. a lie - will be made up about how it is developed by brilliant civilians?

You would need thousands of civilians to take part in your life then. Not easy.

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

#60

Post by philwelch » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 6:57 PM UTC

hirundo wrote: 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.