from the I-always-feel-like-somebody's-watching-me dept.
NRO plans for immediate and long-term acquisition of commercial satellite data - SpaceNews:
Since Russian forces began mobilizing to invade Ukraine, commercial satellite operators have supplied U.S. intelligence agencies with extensive electro-optical, synthetic aperture radar and radio frequency data.
BlackSky, Maxar Technologies and Planet, for example, have shared "millions and millions of square kilometers of imagery" over Ukraine and Russia, specifically, Peter Muend, director of the National Reconnaissance Office Commercial Systems Program Office, said April 25 at the GEOINT Symposium.
Muend also cited Capella Space for providing extensive SAR data and HawkEye 360 for supplying RF data to U.S. government agencies. Those agencies, in turn, are sharing imagery and data with U.S. partners and allies.
Commercial satellite imagery and data have been featured prominently in news reports and social media posts since the Russia invaded Ukraine.
"I have to say I'm very impressed and proud that the commercial providers in many cases that we have as our partners are leading the charge, making sure that it's becoming a more transparent world especially in light of the actions going on in Ukraine," Muend said.
The war is occurring at an inflection point for commercial Earth observation. Dozens of companies in the United States and around the world are building constellations of tens or hundreds of satellites equipped with sensors to reveal what's happening on the ground.
Recognizing the value of those datasets, NRO has issued contracts to satisfy immediate needs, while undertaking the formal process of drafting requirements for long-term programs of record to bring commercial capabilities into an integrated architecture that includes classified U.S. government systems.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday April 27 2022, @11:00AM (10 children)
Sci-Fi and future war writers have long warned us about the satellites. In a war, the sats stay up, as long as each side believes that it benefits from the presence of the satellites. As soon as one side is convinced that the enemy is getting more and better use of the sats, then they come down.
If I were running a bunch of satellites, I certainly wouldn't want to publicize that I were cooperating with either side in a war.
But, all of you really smart people just go on, irritate the Russians, get them really pissed off, maybe even scare the Russians. When they nail a few hundred sats, and turn them all into shrapnel, and nearly all of the sats are damaged or destroyed, it's going to take years or decades to rebuild the systems.
Step one, will be just waiting for the debris to fall out of the sky. That ain't gonna happen overnight!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2022, @11:15AM
LIKE IN THAT DOCUMENTARY GRAVITY BY ALFONSO CUARÓN OOOOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday April 27 2022, @02:31PM (4 children)
So why should we care more about what's scary for Russians rather than what's scary for other people? At some point, you need to recognize that Russia isn't the only country on the planet and they're not the only ones that nobody should piss off.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2022, @06:46PM (3 children)
Russia is just trying to defend itself against ZOG. The rat-faced Jew won't stop until he finishes the job he started in the Bolshevik (Jew) revolution and the aftermath wherein he slaughtered 10's of millions of White Russians. White nations are Shabbos Goy slave states being used again Russia, as this article illustrates. Whites need to use the internet, while we still can to learn about the Jew, so we can do our duty and kick these subversive rats out of our countries before they start another White genocide world war. Do you people think it's a coincidence that The Ukraine has a Jew "president"?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday April 27 2022, @07:25PM
Maybe they ought to try something that works?
That would explain why Putin, a product of that revolution, is trying to restart the Russian empire, right? Or is he on the other side of your narrative?
Yes, I do think it's a coincidence. I also think it's amusing that one of the pretexts for the Russian invasion is alleged neo-nazis. I find it interesting how you seem to have the sides swapped.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2022, @10:56PM
Don't Look Up, the Jewish Space Lasers are about to toast your ass.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday April 28 2022, @06:09AM
Fsck Zog, it's Zalgo we should be worrying about!
.... he comes ...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Michael on Wednesday April 27 2022, @04:11PM
There's no need for anyone to do anything for the Russian (or any other country's) media to tell the slack jawed majority they should get irritated.
The state and corporate media already know their jobs.
The most efficacious irritants are seldom based on things that have genuinely happened in reality anyway. Historically the best ones have typically been entirely fictional.
(Anyone who hasn't realised that by now is probably too busy getting irritated by their own favourite fictions to notice.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2022, @08:26PM (1 child)
The Russians invaded with no good reason, NATO getting too close was a pretext...
Meanwhile in other news https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/26/us-wont-rule-out-military-action-if-china-establishes-base-in-solomon-islands [theguardian.com]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday April 27 2022, @09:46PM
That sounds like a real winning proposition. Let's fight both Russia and China! /sarc
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2022, @09:59PM
The way things are going for them, they'll probably shoot their own satellites down by mistake.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2022, @01:12PM (4 children)
WTF is NRO?
Bad journalism. Always define your acronyms so your readers don't have to guess.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2022, @04:23PM (1 child)
The NRO likes that you do not know about them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2022, @09:52PM
National Reconnaissance Office
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 28 2022, @08:00AM
national rifle organization
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday April 28 2022, @08:55AM
We did - you just didn't read it.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday April 28 2022, @06:12AM
This is a clever move by the NRO, various countries have been supplying Ukraine's military with all sorts of intel, now that they've announced that they're getting lots of it from commercial providers there's little to no risk of revealing their actual native capabilities to anyone.