Message posted by uncleaina on November 14, 2013 at 11:51:19 PST:

Thanks for the comments guys.

I'm not saying these mini-sats exist for a fact - but just tossing it out there.

Eagle Scout: You didn't mention the launches that take place here on Kauai at the PMRF...1-2 per month.
They test THAAD, cruise missiles, and launch SM-3 target missiles for AEGIS anti-missile testing. Here on the island it is well-known that they will do launches at 2:00am, etc and it would be very hard to tell exactly what they launched. No reason that they couldn't say it was a target missile and that "it was destroyed successfully over the Pacific" during an exercise when in reality it contained LEO satellites, placed them in orbit and then was taken out by Aegis.

You are right about the need for a honking big mirror to see small things (damn Rayleigh criterion) but with a 12" lens and a big-ol CCD/CMOS you can see a LOT. Maybe 1-2 meter resolution from 90 miles up. (It's theoretical limit is about .1 arc sec so...).
That would allow tracking a vehicle for example.

So not saying it's true, but still seems within the realm of plausibility. Aloha!

In Reply to: Re: Very Unlikely posted by Griffon_314 on November 11, 2013 at 18:39:50 PST:

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