Spy Satellites Research Articles

The Great Game of Space: Space Political Adventurism and Battle for Superpower Status Beyond the Horizons

Wars will not be fought on the grounds in future, but explosions will occur beyond horizons. The subject of advanced strategies of Great Powers, space militarization, and political adventurism of China, USA, and Russia has been extensively inscribed in this research paper. The paper mainly reflects the political stratagem and space arms race of Russia, China, and the USA, which are combating each other for power status in orbits of space. As China and Russia challenge USA dominance in space, the USA seeks to weaponize space to maintain its supremacy and counter these rivals. The evolving international structure and world order are steering warfare into new dimensions, with space militarization posing nontraditional security threats like spying, surveillance, space debris, and satellite destruction. Technology has advanced to the point where states have developed sophisticated spy satellites and anti-satellite weapons capable of targeting other satellites from space or the ground. Despite international legal efforts and multilateral cooperation, major powers continue to expand their space arsenals, creating national security concerns. The study argues that international institutions have failed to curb the space arms race due to their ineffectiveness. Thus, there is a need for a shift in focus to find common ground and resolve this space security conflict. The paper provides a theoretical overview of the role of international institutions and state behavior in the international system. Using qualitative research techniques, the study conducts in-depth exploration through secondary data gathered from various articles, journals, reports, vlogs, videos, and magazines. Descriptive and explanatory research approaches are employed to achieve the research objectives.

India–Israel Cooperation in Spy Satellites: Materialism to Idealism

This article argues that India–Israel cooperation in space-based imagery originated under a realist logic but has been developing under an increasingly strong value-based commitment in countering terrorism. In this regard, the relationship is somewhat like the UK-US signals intelligence sharing arrangement that was originally formed to defeat the Axis powers but strengthened over shared values in countering communism and then international terrorism. To establish this, the article provides the first detailed account of the evolution of the Indo-Israel spy satellites cooperation and offers fresh insights into the future trajectory considering the recent security developments affecting India and Israel.

Using CORONA Imagery to Study Land Use and Land Cover Change—A Review of Applications

CORONA spy satellites offer high spatial resolution imagery acquired in the 1960s and early 1970s and declassified in 1995, and they have been used in various scientific fields, such as archaeology, geomorphology, geology, and land change research. The images are panchromatic but contain many details of objects on the land surface due to their high spatial resolution. This systematic review aims to study the use of CORONA imagery in land use and land cover change (LULC) research. Based on a set of queries conducted on the SCOPUS database, we identified and examined 54 research papers using such data in their study of LULC. Our analysis considered case-study area distributions, LULC classes and LULC changes, as well as the methods and types of geospatial data used alongside CORONA data. While the use of CORONA images has increased over time, their potential has not been fully explored due to difficulties in processing CORONA images. In most cases, study areas are small and below 5000 km2 because of the reported drawbacks related to data acquisition frequency, data quality and analysis. While CORONA imagery allows analyzing built-up areas, infrastructure and individual buildings due to its high spatial resolution and initial mission design, in LULC studies, researchers use the data mostly to study forests. In most case studies, CORONA imagery was used to extend the study period into the 1960s, with only some examples of using CORONA alongside older historical data. Our analysis proves that in order to detect LULC changes, CORONA can be compared with various contemporary geospatial data, particularly high and very high-resolution satellite imagery, as well as aerial imagery.

Challenges for the Conventional Deterrence of Pakistan in the Post 2019 Security Situations: Options and Choices

The study aims at discussing the changing dynamics of conventional deterrence in South Asia especially after the Pulwama-Balakot incident of 2019. The study is evaluated through Descriptive, Exploratory and Predictive data analysis approach. For elaborating different aspects of the study, both primary and secondary data was used. The study conducted in-depth interviews of the experts on the strategic and nuclear environment of the South Asian region. The study is divided in to three parts. In first part of the study, India-Pakistan relations since their independence in 1947 have been discussed. It was followed by discussing how Indian military strategic thinking against Pakistan has been changed from being defensive in Sunderji Doctrine (SD) of 1987 to offensive in the Cold Start Doctrine (CSD) of 2004 and then to the Land Warfare Doctrine (LWD) of 2018. The study then continues on discussing how India has crossed the international border line and conducted so-called surgical strikes inside Pakistani territory after a militant attack on the Indian paramilitary troops in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK) in 2019 and how Pakistan responded to the Indian aggression with a military operation codenamed “Operation Swift Retort”. The second part of the study is related to the Indian acquisition of modern sophisticated weaponry from the great powers like US, Israel, Russia etc. and the possible impacts of these weapons systems on the strategic stability of Pakistan. How the weapon systems like Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, Rafale fighter jets, Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM), Nuclear Submarine, P8-I Antisubmarine aircraft, Apache attack helicopter, Spy satellites and the armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will pose threats to Pakistan, was main theme of the second part of the study. The possibility of any future war between India and Pakistan was also discussed in this section. Third section of the study was related to the possible options for Pakistan to counter the growing Indian conventional superiority. It was discussed that Pakistan should improve its long-range air defense system, improve the speed, lethality and range of its missiles, acquire or develop nuclear submarine and fifth generation aircrafts, improve Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities along with the acquisition of attack helicopters and enhancing the endurance and range of armed UAVs to counter any future Indian aggression. Overall the Indian military modernization, the acquisition and procurement of modern sophisticated weaponry was discussed in the study. How negatively it will impact Pakistan and what options and choices are available with Pakistan to counter it, was the basic theme of the study. It was also thoroughly examined that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are not for wars, but it’s the guarantor of peace in South Asia. It was also examined that Pakistan will never allow any aggression to disturb its strategic stability and will never hesitate to ensure its strategic stability and the basic sovereignty as a state at any cost, even by using its nuclear weapons as a last resort in case of failure of its conventional weapons.

Design and Analysis of a PDLC-Based Reconfigurable Hilbert Fractal Antenna for Large and Fine THz Frequency Tuning.

The proposed reconfigurable radiating antenna design is based on the integration of a reconfigurable fractal antenna and electro-optic substrate material. This antenna can be adjusted to achieve either re-configurability or tunability in the desired frequency range for wireless systems. The electromagnetic characteristics of the fractal antenna are manipulated at both the level of fractal geometry, electrical length and dielectric substrate. The designed antenna features multiband responses, in which the geometry and length change create a large frequency shift and the dielectric change using polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) creates fine and/or continuous tuning. The far field and scattering properties of the antenna are analyzed using the Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Microwave Studio Suite. The proposed approach has successfully demonstrated reconfigurable switching for up to four frequency bands between 0.2 and 0.6 THz. The dielectric constant change in the PDLC substrate shows fine and continuous frequency tuning with an 8% maximum frequency shift when operating around 0.54 THz and a high directivity of 7.35 dBi at 0.54 THz and 8.43 dBi at 0.504 THz. The antenna can also realize a peak gain of 4.29 dBi at 0.504 THz in the extraordinary polarization state of PDLC. The designed antenna can be readily integrated in the current communication devices, such as satellites, smart phones, laptops, and other portable electronic devices, due to its compact geometry and IC compatible design. In satellite applications, the proposed antenna can play a significant role in terms of security. The antenna could be extremely useful for satellites that want to keep their information secret; by constantly switching their operating frequency, spy satellites can evade detection and data collection from enemy ears.

Very Rapid Forest Cover Change in Sichuan Province, China: 40 Years of Change Using Images From Declassified Spy Satellites and Landsat

Forests have significant impacts on the global carbon cycle, hydrological processes, and biodiversity. Driven by socioeconomic developments, forests experienced drastic changes since the mid-20th century in China. Although declassified spy satellite and other Earth observation satellite data offer remote sensing technologies for mapping these long-term changes, challenges remain unsolved for applications of large volumes of historical data. This study uses long-term satellite observations, including declassified satellite data in the 1960s and Landsat products since the 1970s to monitor the decadal changes. A semi-automated method was developed for the rapid registration of declassified images with reference to Landsat data. The method was applied to quantify the forest cover (FC) in Sichuan Province (excluding Chongqing), China. Combined with a Landsat-based FC change product, it revealed that the FC in Sichuan declined rapidly by 38% from the 1960s to 2005. The FC was estimated to be 45.19 ± 1.62% in the 1960s and 38.98 ± 2.06% in 1975, but it rapidly decreased to 28.91 ± 2.07% in 1990 and 27.87 ± 2.14% by 2005. Supplemented with the official statistics, the FC in Sichuan was reported to increase to 38.03% by 2018. Although differences between the remote sensing-based estimates and the statistics were observed, they highlight the challenges in reconstructing historical land use changes for carbon and other studies. The drastic loss of forests before 1990 and the stabilizing afterward reflects the changes in forest policies, which transitioned from serving timber products to forest conservations.

Spy satellites reveal decline in marmots

Spy satellites reveal decline in marmots

Optical interferometers sharpen views of the sky.

In New Mexico, a renewed attempt to build an optical array could bring spy satellites into focus

Spy satellites are revealing Afghanistan’s lost empires

Spy satellites are revealing Afghanistan’s lost empires

Wanted: AI that can spy [News

Spy satellites and their commercial cousins orbit Earth like a swarm of space paparazzi, capturing tens of terabytes of images every day. The deluge of satellite imagery leaves U.S. intelligence agencies with the world’s biggest case of FOMO-fear of missing out- because human analysts can sift through only so many images to spot a new nuclear enrichment facility or missiles being trucked to different locations. That’s why U.S. intelligence officials have sponsored an artificial-intelligence challenge to automatically identify objects of interest in satellite images.

Towards disruptions in Earth observation? New Earth Observation systems and markets evolution: Possible scenarios and impacts

This paper reviews the trends in Earth observation (EO) and the possible impacts on markets of the new initiatives, launched either by existing providers of EO data or by new players, privately funded. After a presentation of the existing models, the paper discusses the new approaches, addressing both commercial and institutional markets. New concepts for the very high resolution markets, in Europe and in the US, are the main focus of this analysis. Two complementary perspectives are summarised: on the one hand, the type of system and its operational performance and, on the other, the related business models, concepts of operation and ownership schemes.Until now, Earth observation systems for the most critical institutional needs are mainly dedicated assets owned and operated by governments or public organisations, often at national level. Even in the case of dual use missions, the governmental and commercial operations are in general fully segregated for the very high resolution satellites.Recent evolutions could affect this paradigm. Firstly, the increased performance of commercial satellites has a high degree of convergence with defence needs: 25–30cm resolution is now the benchmark or at least a very short term target for commercial missions. The second evolution is the development of hybrid procurement schemes, combining proprietary missions and data buy framework contracts, partly triggered by the budgetary constraints of public customers, some failures in the execution of large spy satellites contracts and by the willingness to foster the competitiveness of industry on the export market.New space is another trend, which is more disruptive. This trend begun in the Silicon Valley and spread worldwide, arousing our expectations, sometimes excessively. This new model involves not only start-ups but also big web actors with substantial investment capacity. Both aim to transforming space into a commodity, taking benefit from the convergence between Information technology and EO. Beside the massive constellations for broadband Internet access, some initiatives have been launched for Earth observation markets, targeting high resolution and high revisit. Last but not least, more and more countries, the newcomers, invest in their own EO capacity, confirming the soft power dimension of space but also opening new opportunities for international or regional cooperation.As many unpredictable events may occur, even in a short time frame, the last part of the paper has a prospective dimension. Based on market trends and industrial stakes, it discusses the realism and likelihood of possible scenarios and identifies their impacts on the EO landscape and the main stakeholders involved, in particular in Europe:–The governmental and institutional actors, using Earth observation data for their operational missions, with an evolving balance between sovereign assets and external services.–The commercial operators of very high resolution satellites, with the new market opportunities and the possible emergence of worldwide champions.–The satellite manufacturers and their competitiveness.–The role of nations and space agencies, including the non-dependence or national sovereignty and international cooperation dimensions.Based on the comparison of three “radical” scenarios, the conclusion shows that there are opportunities for service providers and satellite manufacturers. Even without clear answer to the future industrial, technical and political structure of EO systems, relevant indicators to be monitored during the next three-five years are identified. The last section focuses on Europe and the role of institutions in order to support European champions and small and medium companies in the new worldwide competition.

The Other Space Race: Eisenhower and the Quest for Aerospace Security by Nicholas Michael Sambaluk

Reviewed by: The Other Space Race: Eisenhower and the Quest for Aerospace Securityby Nicholas Michael Sambaluk Alan D. Meyer (bio) The Other Space Race: Eisenhower and the Quest for Aerospace Security. by Nicholas Michael Sambaluk. Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2015. Pp. 352. $44.95. Most accounts of the "space race" between the Soviet Union and the United States begin with the 1957 launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, which panicked Americans into believing they had lost their technological (and thus military) edge over their cold war adversary. President Dwight Eisenhower's staid response failed to calm their fears; instead, it left many convinced that their avuncular but technologically naive commander in chief did not fully comprehend the strategic importance of outer space. Many authors treat Eisenhower's space policies of the late 1950s similarly, as little more than a reactive and reluctant prologue to the more ambitious and deliberate agenda pursued by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson in the 1960s: human spaceflight leading to the Apollo Moon landings. In The Other Space Race, historian Nicholas Michael Sambaluk argues that Eisenhower in fact created a coherent, long-term space policy that was firmly grounded in national defense. However, the president's low-key leadership style, which served him well throughout his first term, ultimately worked against him as public confidence eroded in the wake of Sputnik. Long before the Sputnik crisis, Eisenhower focused on developing unmanned (and unarmed) reconnaissance satellites to provide intelligence on Soviet military preparedness. To further this strategic goal, the White House announced plans to launch a scientific research satellite during the International Geophysical Year of 1957–58. Eisenhower's real goal for this non-military project was to create a precedent for international "freedom of space," which would make it legal for the United States to overfly the Soviet Union using top-secret spy satellites still under development. Ultimately he achieved both ends: Sputnik's orbit over the United States delivered the crucial "freedom of space" precedent, and by the time John Kennedy took office, photographs from the CIA's Corona spy satellites developed under Eisenhower proved the fiction of the so-called "missile gap" on which Kennedy had successfully campaigned. Ironically, because Eisenhower refused to even hint at Corona's existence, the American public, Congress, and even most top military leaders incorrectly concluded that he had no space policy. Although Eisenhower was mainly interested in reconnaissance satellites, Sputnik forced more visible action. In 1958 he replaced the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics with another civilian agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in part to placate the public, but also to outmaneuver air force leaders who sought control of the nation's space program. And although he saw no practical function in [End Page 597]human spaceflight, Eisenhower subsequently approved NASA's Project Mercury for similar reasons. While he tolerated NASA's non-military agenda, the air force's planned hypersonic space plane, which promised to deliver nuclear warheads from outer space, flew directly in the face of Eisenhower's express policy to avoid weaponizing space (p. 47). Dubbed "Dyna-Soar" (for Dynamic Soarer), the piloted craft would be boosted into orbit atop a rocket, then conduct its mission while gliding back to Earth at speeds approaching 25,000 feet per second (17,000 mph) (p. 72). Sambaluk demonstrates how the postwar air force never doubted that it was the natural choice to lead the nation into manned spaceflight as an extension of its existing airpower doctrine, and shows how the program remained small enough to escape Eisenhower's notice until after Sputnik created considerable public outcry for decisive action to restore U.S. preeminence in space. By then, given Dyna-Soar's widespread popularity in military and political circles, coupled with Eisenhower's perceived weakness on space policy, the president felt that he could not cancel the program even though he clearly wanted to. Ultimately it was Kennedy (who initially favored the project as part of a massive defense spending program) who put the unfortunately named program on the path to extinction (p. 223). Although the title does not mention Dyna-Soar by name, the air force's abortive...

Optimizing the Nano Technology in Defence System for the Future War Figther

Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter at dimensions of roughly 1-100 nm, where unique phenomena enable novel applications. A nanometer is 10 -9 of a meter; a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nm thick. In this paper we present the concept of the future war fighter who is indomitable. The future war-fighter concept is about to come into reality in 20 years. The fighter is equipped with powerful tools to cause drastic damage or to neutralize the opponents. He is in a smart uniform and smart helmet, which has sensors to protect him from ballistic elements, a toxic chemical and bio- agent. He identifies objects or enemies through RFID tags and Body Area Networks. The war-fighter has the ability to monitor his position, his physical and mental condition, status of equipment such as PDAs, watch, RFID-reader, heart rate monitoring. The smart helmet consists of a helmet as platform system equipped with an intelligent sensor system for various tasks: positioning, RF and audio communication, B/C sensing, EEG monitoring, sniper detection and digital signal processing. The fighter has powerful lethal and non-lethal weapons. He is equipped with micro vehicles that give information about enemy troops and thus he can analyze, interpret and decides the action to be taken. Advantages of small highly integrated modular satellites for military purposes are that they can be used as destruction satellites and spy satellites.

Multitemporal Satellite Images for Knowledge of the Assyrian Capital Cities and for Monitoring Landscape Transformations in the Upper Course of Tigris River

The paper is concerned with the contribution that a rich documentation of multitemporal optical satellite images with high resolution provides for the knowledge of the five great Assyrian capital cities (Ashur, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, Kalhu, Dur-Sharrukin, and Nineveh, in northern Iraq). These images also allow monitoring changes of landscape in the higher course of the Tigris during the last half century and document damages in archaeological sites during the two Gulf Wars. The data set, available for each city, consists of panchromatic and multispectral images taken between 2001 and 2007 by modern commercial satellites (Ikonos-2, QuickBird-2, and WorldView-1) and of panchromatic photographs of U.S. spy satellites operating between 1965 and 1969 (Corona KH-4B and Gambit KH-7). These photos were taken before diffusion of mechanized agriculture and the expansion of urban areas, so they are very useful to document many archaeological features and the landscape that has been modified in the last decades, as shown by recent satellite images.

Spy Satellites Give Scientists A Sharper Image of Field Sites

Last week, thanks to the U.S. intelligence community, researchers saw pictures that will allow them to model the breakup of sea ice at a level of detail they never imagined.

What should nations reveal about their spying from space? An examination of the US experience

Revelation of the details of countries' space-based reconnaissance programs was unusual until the end of the Cold War, despite debates on the subject within the US government. Since then – and in contrast to Russia – the USA has been more open about its spying activities. This article charts the history of declassification in the USA from the Eisenhower Administration to that of G.W. Bush. It discusses issues such as the need to ensure freedom of space for the operation of spy satellites, gaining public acceptance of space-based reconnaissance by demonstrating the civil uses of such photography, and tradeoffs between revealing one's capabilities and letting others know how closely their actions can be observed.

Henri Becquerel: serendipitous brilliance

Serendipity has always been an attendant to great science. Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered the cosmic background radiation after first mistaking it for the effect of pigeon droppings on their microwave antenna. US spy satellites detected gamma-ray bursts when surveying the sky for evidence of secret Soviet nuclear tests during the Cold War. Satyendra Bose arrived at Bose–Einstein statistics only after discovering that a mathematical error explained the experimental data concerning the photoelectric effect. In the words of science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov, “The most exciting phrase in science is not ‘Eureka!’, but rather, ‘That's funny…’.

Spy satellites monitor China's nuclear weapon sites for earthquake damage

Spy satellites monitor China's nuclear weapon sites for earthquake damage

Scientists Fear Curbs on Access to Satellite Data

A new plan to expand the use of spy satellites for homeland security and law enforcement has left some officials worried that science will suffer.

The whole world is watching

As more nations build and launch their own spy satellites, secrecy is becoming a thing of the past.