U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Missouri: How we know that

Re:U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Misso... by zamnos on Saturday February 25, 2023 @02:17AM (#34934621)

This bears repeating. Physics dictates that atmosphere effects means a spy satellite, operating from the edge of space, will never be able to resolve the license plate of a car. A balloon, at 60,000 feet, roughly 18 km (space is at 100 km) can. If you're China, and you want high resolution aerial photography of US nuclear missile silos in Montana, this is what you'd use.

We've been at the limit since the 70's, btw. The Hubble space telescope was enabled by the spy satellite program - they didn't just "happen" to have an extra mirror of exactly the right size, they made them for spy satellites.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2019/09/us-spy-satellites-at-d...

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Re:U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Misso... by samstave on Saturday February 25, 2023 @11:55AM (#34938124)

If you point the JWT at the earth, can it see moar?

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Re:U-2 pilot's selfie above China's balloon taken over Misso... by Breza on Thursday March 09, 2023 @10:38AM (#35082324)

Good question. The answer is no for three primary reasons. First, the JWST isn't designed for observing Earth, so its equipment isn't optimized for that purpose. Second, spy sats are already at the limits of what physics will allow them to see. And third, the JWST is much farther from our planet than spy sats. The atmosphere blurs signals.

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