Can satellite's really zoom in on something as small as a fly in great detail & definition?

Question

Can satellite's really zoom in on something as small as a fly in great detail & definition?

Answer 1

No, because turbulence in the atmosphere smears out images.  The best you could do is maybe 1-3 meters per pixel.   Oh and even if you could get good enough resolution to make out say... a fly, you can't ever really see license plates since they always on the side of a car and satellites can only look down from above.

Answer 2

no but they can zoom in enough to view anyones license plate in good enough detail to read it.

Answer 3

I think the question is whether or not we've developed optics that powerful. I'm not sure, but the current satellite cameras available to the public are nowhere close.

There's no telling what the various space going governments have cooked up in secret.

Answer 4

In 1994 I was involved in re-mapping South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. We were using physical measuring methods, aircraft photography, and satellite photography and imaging. I remember viewing satellite photo's of an industrial site, In these pictures you could clearly read the brand name on bags of concrete. The lettering was about two inches in size. So in the last 14 years I would guess that the technology is probably available to zoom in on things even smaller. Maybe even through solid objects using infra red.