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Can Spy Satellites read your Car Number Plate?

NerdModo

2009-10-16

Since time immemorial(not really), people have been fascinated by spy satellites. Everybody wonders what they do and what sort of new information do governments have on each other. One of the most reliable sources of intelligence has always been Imagery Intelligence, from Aerial Intelligence to Imagery gathered using Satellites. From the days of Hot Air Balloons taking pictures, to the day of the U-2 and Sr-71 to the days of KH-11 and today’s era of high resolution commercial satellites, spy imaging has been a great asset for all governments.

A nearly universal myth tells the story of US and Russian Spy Satellites being able to read car number plates and the headlines of newspapers being held on a sidewalk clearly, but is that true? Here is the truth.

Rayleigh’s Criterion gives us the highest possible resolution for an optical device with a circular aperture. It is expressed as follows :
http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/f/d/8/fd83540e22140c050d0de6c139415bf1.png

As explained clearly by me on Wikipedia, the Hubble Space Telescope has a Diameter of 2.4m. Hubble being one of the biggest bad-ass satellites ever launched should be able to see my car plate if it can see a galaxy a gazillion miles away. Mathematically, the highest possible resolution for Hubble comes out to be around 16cm which is around 6.3 inches or half a foot. Now that is good enough to spot a car and a building in detail but not good enough to read a newspaper headline.

Modern day spy satellites have highest resolutions around 10cm and even that is not enough to read a newspaper headline. The Federation of American Scientists explain:
http://www.nerdmodo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/read0.1.jpg
http://www.nerdmodo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/read-1.gif
http://www.nerdmodo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/read3.gif
http://www.nerdmodo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/read10.gif

As clearly demonstrated above, a spy satellite can neither read your car plate or the newspaper headlines. Rest assured, the stories of Mao and Stalin being delivered chilling images of the US’s superior spy imaging capabilities will continue to be spread for generations.

Refer to FAS’s IMINT 101 for a quick lesson in Satellite Resolution and remember to take a look at famous galleries:
http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/imint_101.htm

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