Billionaire Elon Musk’s company SpaceX is preparing a network of hundreds of spy satellites for one of the American secret services for forty billion crowns. The satellites should orbit the Earth in low orbit and allow the US to spot targets anywhere on the planet. According to the director of the Czech Space Agency, Jan Kolář, the shift compared to previous systems will be both in the technology and quality of the information obtained, but also in speed and focus, he said on the ČT24 broadcast.
According to the director of the Czech Space Agency, Jan Kolář, the news that Elon Musk’s company SpaceX was involved in the contract caused the main uproar. But the initiative was initiated years ago by the US Department of Defense and the National Intelligence Agency.
“America is ready to combine all the advantages and advantages of current satellite systems and create one integrated whole that would provide unique information for the needs of the military in action, or for intelligence purposes,” Kolář said on the ČT24 broadcast.
Director of the Czech Space Agency Jan Kolář on the new American network of spy satellites (source: ČT24)
This network would offer the US worldwide coverage, Reuters confirms. According to him, this is already possible with current systems. For example, the company Planet has over a hundred satellites at its disposal, which can provide data from any place on the globe, explains the director of the Czech Space Agency.
But the system of spy satellites should be different from the current ones. The newly built network will be unique in that the initiative will involve a number of significantly smaller satellites operating in lower orbits, which are cheaper and will be equipped with a variety of technologies.
According to Kolář, it will therefore be a complex, not a unified system. “Even Musk’s contribution will be only one of several. It will not be Musk’s network but a national network. Already in 2019, the US Department of Defense invited companies to participate and submit their proposals for contributions to such a network,” reminded Kolář.
SpaceX signed a contract with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which manages spy satellites, in 2021. According to the expert, for example, connecting companies or companies specializing in taking sensitive images of the earth’s surface will be involved.
The individual satellites will therefore work “in a swarm” and will be able to transfer information to each other very quickly. “Therefore, the novelty will be in technology, in the quality of the information, but also in speed and focus,” sums up Kolář.
Satellites distinguish objects on the order of centimetres
According to Kolar, the possibilities that spy satellites offer in terms of providing information are enormous. On the one hand, there is a wealth of information available in terms of resolution – the detail that can be recognized. Civilian satellites can recognize detail in the order of tens of centimeters, and military spy satellites provide images showing even units of centimeters.
Kolář also points to the so-called quality, i.e. the ability to distinguish individual objects from each other. Buildings, means of transport, or pieces of military equipment can be recognized in the images. However, the satellites will not only send optical images to Earth, but also those taken outside the visible spectrum using infrared radiation or radio waves. All these technologies will be used and harmonized in the newly built network, concludes Kolář.
2024-03-17 18:11:19
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