Sputnik 1
It may be difficult for you to imagine how advanced satellite technology is today!
There was a saying circulating on the Internet before: American satellites can recognize faces on the ground ! Some say this is an official leak.
Let's see how clear the world's most powerful satellite is, and you'll know what's true. The whole story of
and
should start from 2019. At that time, Trump ’s Twitter account had not been banned. He respected freedom and could express his opinions freely on the Internet.
In this year Iran was preparing to launch a detection satellite . Unfortunately, it failed due to immature technology.
When Trump heard the news, he immediately mobilized US satellites to observe the current situation in Iran and took a series of photos.
This... is indeed very clear
More importantly, Trump actually posted these confidential photos to his Twitter account , and expressed his "comfort" with gloating. When
netizens took a look, they immediately discovered the key point.
The scene of Iran’s failure to launch a satellite is certainly horrific, but why was the United States able to take such clear photos of and ?
's photos on Trump's Twitter account show the situation at the launch base, the damaged launch vehicle , etc.
People can even clearly find out the overall layout of Iran's launch base from the picture.
According to professionals, although the image has been specially processed from to , there are relevant signs that the resolution of the original image may be within 0.2 meters.
Of course, this is not the most outrageous. If this thing is true, the accuracy of the photos taken by Keyhole 12, the most powerful satellite in the United States, may have reached .1 meters .
Keyhole No. 12 Satellite
What is the concept of this data?
To give a popular example, Keyhole No. 12 can capture you walking on the street.
We have no way of knowing whether American satellites will be more powerful, but Trump’s tweet undoubtedly exposed the strength of the United States and is an official leak.
It’s no wonder that the United States later collectively proposed that ban Trump’s Twitter account .
This is very embarrassing. Can
take pictures of human faces?
Of course, netizens are not concerned about Trump or Iran’s launch situation. Everyone wants to know, judging from the response to this matter, whether American satellites can recognize faces.
If it could recognize faces, wouldn’t our environment be monitored all the time?
can rest assured that if Keyhole No. 12 is in its best condition and can only reach a resolution of 0.1 meters, it will not be able to recognize faces.
People can only see blurry figures in the photos.
Keyhole No. 12 has two ways to improve its shooting capabilities. One is to install a more powerful camera on it, and the other is to lower the flight trajectory for shooting.
Keyhole No. 12
If they had enough technology for and , I am afraid they would have applied it to Keyhole No. 12. Everyone can rest assured about the former.
As for the latter, it is obviously an unwise choice.
The current altitude of low-orbit satellites is about 160 kilometers, but such satellites face a big problem.
That is, it is easily affected by the earth's gravity, causing it to fall.
The gravity of the earth is very strong.
Keyhole 12 is the most powerful satellite of the United States, and they will not let it take such a risk.
Moreover, there are many dangers for Keyhole 12 to lower to this height. Today, the earth's orbit is full of space junk, and even a small piece of debris can destroy it.
Even if Keyhole No. 12 descends to an altitude of 160 kilometers, whether it can recognize faces on the ground is another matter.
Keyhole satellite remote sensing image
Not only that, this satellite, known as the most powerful in the world, also has many flaws.
Disadvantages of keyhole No. 12
First, the field of view of keyhole No. 12 is limited. As long as you observe its running trajectory, you can calculate the time period passing through a certain area. During
, if the important information in this area is hidden in advance, keyhole No. 12 cannot be observed.
This is like a policeman patrolling 24 hours a day. He stays at the home of resident A for 30 minutes. As long as he hides at home during these 30 minutes, he will not be observed.
So why can't Keyhole No. 12 change his travel trajectory and stay in a certain area for a longer time?
The reason is that the running trajectory of Keyhole 12 and was designed by NASA before launch, and it is difficult to effectively change it.
Moreover, there are a lot of space junk near the earth's orbit. It is difficult to ensure that Keyhole 12 will be safe after changing its trajectory.
Space junk is increasing day by day
In 1999, India conducted a nuclear test. In order to avoid the surveillance of the US Keyhole 12, they calculated the trajectory of the satellite in advance and carried out the experiment perfectly.
This has also become a lingering shortcoming of Keyhole No. 12. If you want to use it to obtain important information, you also need the technical support of and more advanced .
At present, it is difficult for the United States to achieve this, at least in the short term. It cannot break through the original technology.
Secondly, Keyhole 12 is subject to great interference. Not only it, but all satellites today have such problems.
After all, the earth is supported by a rich atmosphere. When satellites take ground photos, they are greatly affected by the weather.
Earth's atmosphere
Once encountering heavy haze or cloudy weather, the photos taken by satellites are basically useless for reference.
In addition, the camera equipped on Keyhole No. 12 uses the traditional reflective visible light working principle. There must be good light support between the subject and the camera.
In other words, Keyhole No. 12 has "night blindness". Unless the subject lights it himself, it will lose its original function once it comes to night.
Moreover, Keyhole No. 12 is also affected by rain, snow, haze, etc. on the ground, so its practicality is not as powerful as everyone thinks.
Atmospheric Stratification
During the Kosovo War, the United States once wanted to use Keyhole No. 12 to detect the other side's military base information.
However, the other party had already prepared for and had done smoke protection work in the area in advance, so it did not bring useful information to the US military.
Third, in order to have good shooting capabilities and observation effects, NASA made Keyhole 12 very large, 3 to 4 times that of other observation satellites.
coupled with the orbital altitude of Keyhole 12 is about 300 kilometers, it can easily become the target of anti-satellite missile .
Since the target of Keyhole 12 is too huge, anti-satellite missiles are basically accurate in one hit. Once the United States goes to war with a country that possesses anti-satellite missile technology, Keyhole series satellites will inevitably be the priority target of attack.
Anti-missile satellite
Overall, the capabilities of Keyhole 12 are still quite limited, and its related technologies still need to be improved.
my country's satellite
In order to break the foreign satellite technology blockade, our country has also made many efforts in the satellite field. Although
is not as good as the American keyhole series, our country's satellite technology is among the top in the world.
my country's aerospace field started late. It was not until 1970 that the first artificial satellite was launched. Due to the influence of various factors, my country's aerospace field did not really develop until the beginning of the 21st century, lagging behind the United States by more than 40 years.
China Dongfanghong Satellite
But in just more than ten years, my country's aerospace field has made amazing achievements in and .
Not only has the independent space station been built, but the number of satellites launched is also increasing year by year.
Tiangong Space Station Structure
As of 2022, the number of satellites in my country has reached 499, and breakthroughs have been made in uses in many fields.
Currently, my country ranks second in the world in terms of number of satellites, far surpassing Russia, which is third.
In the future, my country's aerospace field will continue to advance steadily and become the world's leading aerospace power.
Keyhole satellite remote sensing image
Not only that, this satellite, known as the most powerful in the world, also has many flaws.
Disadvantages of keyhole No. 12
First, the field of view of keyhole No. 12 is limited. As long as you observe its running trajectory, you can calculate the time period passing through a certain area. During
, if the important information in this area is hidden in advance, keyhole No. 12 cannot be observed.
This is like a policeman patrolling 24 hours a day. He stays at the home of resident A for 30 minutes. As long as he hides at home during these 30 minutes, he will not be observed.
So why can't Keyhole No. 12 change his travel trajectory and stay in a certain area for a longer time?
The reason is that the running trajectory of Keyhole 12 and was designed by NASA before launch, and it is difficult to effectively change it.
Moreover, there are a lot of space junk near the earth's orbit. It is difficult to ensure that Keyhole 12 will be safe after changing its trajectory.
Space junk is increasing day by day
In 1999, India conducted a nuclear test. In order to avoid the surveillance of the US Keyhole 12, they calculated the trajectory of the satellite in advance and carried out the experiment perfectly.
This has also become a lingering shortcoming of Keyhole No. 12. If you want to use it to obtain important information, you also need the technical support of and more advanced .
At present, it is difficult for the United States to achieve this, at least in the short term. It cannot break through the original technology.
Secondly, Keyhole 12 is subject to great interference. Not only it, but all satellites today have such problems.
After all, the earth is supported by a rich atmosphere. When satellites take ground photos, they are greatly affected by the weather.
Earth's atmosphere
Once encountering heavy haze or cloudy weather, the photos taken by satellites are basically useless for reference.
In addition, the camera equipped on Keyhole No. 12 uses the traditional reflective visible light working principle. There must be good light support between the subject and the camera.
In other words, Keyhole No. 12 has "night blindness". Unless the subject lights it himself, it will lose its original function once it comes to night.
Moreover, Keyhole No. 12 is also affected by rain, snow, haze, etc. on the ground, so its practicality is not as powerful as everyone thinks.
Atmospheric Stratification
During the Kosovo War, the United States once wanted to use Keyhole No. 12 to detect the other side's military base information.
However, the other party had already prepared for and had done smoke protection work in the area in advance, so it did not bring useful information to the US military.
Third, in order to have good shooting capabilities and observation effects, NASA made Keyhole 12 very large, 3 to 4 times that of other observation satellites.
coupled with the orbital altitude of Keyhole 12 is about 300 kilometers, it can easily become the target of anti-satellite missile .
Since the target of Keyhole 12 is too huge, anti-satellite missiles are basically accurate in one hit. Once the United States goes to war with a country that possesses anti-satellite missile technology, Keyhole series satellites will inevitably be the priority target of attack.
Anti-missile satellite
Overall, the capabilities of Keyhole 12 are still quite limited, and its related technologies still need to be improved.
my country's satellite
In order to break the foreign satellite technology blockade, our country has also made many efforts in the satellite field. Although
is not as good as the American keyhole series, our country's satellite technology is among the top in the world.
my country's aerospace field started late. It was not until 1970 that the first artificial satellite was launched. Due to the influence of various factors, my country's aerospace field did not really develop until the beginning of the 21st century, lagging behind the United States by more than 40 years.
China Dongfanghong Satellite
But in just more than ten years, my country's aerospace field has made amazing achievements in and .
Not only has the independent space station been built, but the number of satellites launched is also increasing year by year.
Tiangong Space Station Structure
As of 2022, the number of satellites in my country has reached 499, and breakthroughs have been made in uses in many fields.
Currently, my country ranks second in the world in terms of number of satellites, far surpassing Russia, which is third.
In the future, my country's aerospace field will continue to advance steadily and become the world's leading aerospace power.
