SlashDot reports that Google’s recent purchase of Keyhole and its jaw-dropping 3D earth-browsing software has apparently netted them ownership of an imaging satellite as well, now named ‘gSat.’
Today, gSat will be capturing a new dataset (neighborhood of 1meter/pixel), passing over each time zone between 10 and 11AM. If you stand outside and wave you will supposedly show up as a blurry fleck. Even better news is that the dataset will be available within months not only to Keyhole but also to the equally jaw-dropping and open source NASA World Wind.
In related news, the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (above), used to track, discriminate and assess incoming target missiles, is nearing completion and will shortly began its epic 7-month journey to Alaska for operation.
The 2,000-ton Sea-Based Radar will use new high resolution phased-array X-band radars (5.2-8.5 GHz) with Gallium-Nitride amps and advanced radar signal processing technology to improve target resolution. The monster radar will be hoisted aboard its platform – as large as two football fields – this week or next, depending on wind and weather in Corpus Christi, Texas, where it has been under initial sea trials.
SBIRS-High will replace the early warning satellite system known as the Defense Support Program (DSP) to detect the boost stage of a ballistic missile after launch and provide initial trajectory information.
SBIRS-Low (now the Space Tracking and Surveillance System), will detect and track cold missiles much later in their trajectory.
The national defense system still has a few holes; diesel subs with supersonic torpedos and cruise missiles may still slip through, as can container ships, of course.
Unfortunately, the 100-billion dollar, Space-Based InfraRed System (SBIRS) was found vulnerable to a crippling attack when a Philadephia hot dog vendor developed a six-foot tall set of mirrors, designed to reflect the sun’s light — inadvertently debilitating the stationary SBIRS system.
The Solar Death Ray (above) captures sunlight in 112 mirrors, each 3.5 inches square. “I estimate that the Solar Death Ray can heat things up to between 500-600 degrees Celsius (930-1100 degrees Fahrenheit) under good conditions,” says developer, Louis Giersch.
