42 sats \ 3 replies \ @kr OP 17 Mar
This network being developed sounds a lot like the one Planet already has in low-earth orbit.
They’ve had roughly 200 Doves and SuperDoves orbiting earth and taking photos of every square inch of the world’s landmass for 7 years.
It’s possible that this national security network is higher resolution than Planet’s 3.7m/pixel, but the idea that this is going to be a “spy” satellite network sounds a bit overblown.
Identifying humans isn’t feasible from low-earth orbit, at least not at the scale of global coverage. perhaps a system like this could identify different car models and colors, but not any personally identifiable information.
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It's crazy to think that I only learned last year that the US has a sixth branch of the military called the Space Force. And it's even more surprising to learn that it's been around since the Cold War!
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64 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 17 Mar
wow, didn’t realize it had been talked about for so long. it was officially founded under Trump a few years back, but you’re right that it’s roots began during the Cold War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Space_Force
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It seemed to me that Trump had something to do with this. I had the idea that it was either him or Obama, but then I looked into it and the roots go way back. UFOs definitely have some influence on this, for sure.
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Stuff like this 👇 will become more prevalent in the future, and in contexts outside warfare
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what kind of contexts outside warfare?
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