How It Works - UK (2020-05)

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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