http://www.howitworksdaily.com
DID YOU KNOW? NASA’s Explorer 6 took the first-ever picture of Earth in August 1959
DuringtheheightoftheColdWar,theUSfelt
threatenedbya nuclearattackfromtheSov ietUnion.
TheUSusedaircraftandballoonstospyontheSov iets,
butafteroneoftheUS’U-2spyplaneswasshotdow n,
thecountr yneededotherwaystogatherintelligence,
sospace-basedphotoreconnaissancesatelliteswere
developed.TheprogrammewascalledCoronaandwas
approvedmonthsaftertheSov ietslaunchedSputnik.
Theseearlyspysatellites,however,werenothing
likemodern-dayreconnaissancesatellites;theyused
photographicfilmtostorephotosthatwerethen
returnedtoEarthina ‘filmbucket’thatwascaughtby
anaeroplaneinmid-airatabout4,572metres.Modern-
daysatellitescanstayinorbitforyears,whilethe
Coronasatelliteswerelimitedbytheamountof
photographicfilmtheyhadonboard– atmostthey
couldonlystayinorbitfora fewweeks.Overits12-year
lifetime the Corona programme collected more than
800,000images,eachofwhichhadtobecarefully
scrutinisedbyhumansworkingontheproject.
RecentlytheNationalReconnaissanceOffice(NRO)
hasbeenworkingonanelusiveprojectnamed
Sentient,anAIspysystemthat’slikeanall-know ing,
all-seeingbraininthesk y.Theprogrammecanprocess
vastamountsofinformationandcombinesthisw ith
satellitedatatolearnabouttheworldbelowand
respondinrealtime.Givenitsclassifiednature,
however,itstruecapabilitiesw illneverbeknow n, and
it could be used w ithout us ever know ing.
Satellite-on-satellite spying?
On 20 January2020,somethinghighlyconcerning
happenedhundredsofmilesabovetheEarth’ssurface. A
Russianinspectorsatellite,calledKosmos2542,
manoeuvreditselfbehindUSA-245,animagingspy
satellite.Insteadofpassingeachotherevery 11 to 12 days,
however,there’snowlessthan 300 kilometresbetween
them.ExpertsbelievethattheRussiansatelliteis tryingto
gatherinformationabouttheUSmission;itsradio-
frequencyprobecouldtelltheRussianswhatpicturesit’s
takingandhowit processesthedata.What’sevenmore
suspiciousis thatthey’reclosesttoeachotherwhenin
sunlight– theperfectconditionsforsurveillance.
Althoughtheevidenceis coincidental,Russia’snot
breakinganyrules,sothereisn’tmuchthattheUScando
aboutit.Thereare,however,growingconcerns about the
increasing militarisation of space. © U.S. Air Force/Joe Davila
A DeltaIVHeavy
rocketwasused
tolaunch
USA-245on 28
August 2013
Siliconis usedtomake
CCDsbecauseofits
semiconductor properties
© Alamy
A C-119aircraftcatchesa
recoverycapsulethatcontained
thefirstreconnaissanceimages
from space in mid-air
© NRO
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