With what precision stellite can see on earth?

Question

can it identify people?

Answer 1

this is classified

Older photos with technolgy from the 70's made it possible to read the headlines of a newspaper.

Newer technology can be sligthly better, but has specific limits according to mirror diameter etc.

Newest spytech is comparable with hubble, at least in size, but the resolution isn't THAT good as you think, cause there's simply no need in taking photos in a superior resolution

cause this would mean you need to take measures in handling such ammounts of data. And in that case you may be reminded that there's not a Supercomputer with highspeed-DSL up there

MAYBE you can have a photo counting ants on a golf-course, but this would mean knowing very precisly at which hole the ants were walking to avoid above conflicts.

s****.>
in fact one of the latest spy-satellites went dead soon after launch. possibly because someone caused a memory overflow by picturing snowflakes in sibiria

Answer 2

The claim has been reading a license plate.  This isn't just unlikely.  The math doesn't work.

Another claim is that if a woman is wearing a bikini on the beach, you can tell what color it is.  The whole bikini is less than a single dot, but you can subtract off the color of sand, and get a pretty good representation of the color.  You do face recognition on her.

The HiRise camera on MRO can get better images of the Mars surface than can be gotten of Earth.  The atmosphere is much thinner, the orbiter can orbit lower, and there isn't anyone who's already there who's privacy is being violated.  At least not anyone who's opinion we care about.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to answer this question. Just read the first answerer's answer.

There are related questions, though. Does the computer that controls the timing in modern cars have a telemetry uplink built into them, so that they can be tracked with GPS? Do the telephone companies collaborate with the government to keep track of where people are calling from when they use their cell phones, and, if so, do they machine-monitor people's conversations?

Is it possible to get a tracking implant put inside your body without your being aware of it, either through surgery or through dentistry? The devices used for that purpose might first appear in an innocuous form, such as a bracelet or necklace worn by older people to summon help in case they fall down and can't reach the telephone.

Governments such as ours WILL take advantage of every chance they can get to increase their control over the populace. The only question is whether they've had the chance to do these things, not whether they would do them if they had the chance.

Answer 4

From what I understand.... yes.   Resolution down to 6" (and there are rumors that down to 1.5" is possible.)

The hard part is, you can't really use it for people - unless you know *exactly* where they're going to be.   You can use it on structures, or other things that are stationary long enough for you to fly over with a satellite.