Russian warship with hypersonic Zircon missiles on drills in Atlantic
it would be astounding if they didn't - after all they've had spy sats for over60 years...............
Not withstanding, I would be sceptical of 24/7 coverage of the Atlantic. In the days when I was peripherally involved in doing things we did not want the other side to see, we knew when to work and when to sit tight.
They've stopped showing all of the live Starlink video during the launch sequence. Until recently there was live payload video right up to and through the deployment sequence, i.e. when the individual satellites get released from the carrier/dispenser. Up until they stopped doing this one could be absolutely certain what was the configuration of the payload.
That cessation coincided with some changes to the satellites themselves that were supposedly be to allow the addition of other capabilities. Different capabilities than the initial(v1) up/down radio comms ones (mass 260kg) , and different than the subsequent addition (v1.5) of in-orbit sat-to-sat (intersat) [email protected] comms ones (mass 295kg). The latest v2 satellites have additional functionality and mass 1250kg. They've recently started launching some of the v2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink#
https://mezha.media/en/2022/12/28/sp...es-into-orbit/
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/01/fcc-...atellites.html
Given the quantities of the Starlink constellation (3,300 now) with at least 12,000 planned, and given the various orbits which include polar to at least 60N, plus some that seem to be fully polar, very soon every bit of earth will have a continuous 'stare'.
https://satellitemap.space/
There is a 'military' variant of the v2 that is known to include defence payloads, and it is known that one of those payloads is for earth observation purposes. But it has been noted that the close-up release videos seem to have stopped for all variants.
Individual sensors on these things might be relatively poor, but the cumulative effect need not be. And individual sensors have a habit of getting much better very fast when produced in high volume.
So even without considering all the various other hardware in orbit, we can pretty much be sure that either already or in the very near future, continuous observation of an interestingly useful nature is going to be available to the USA.
That cessation coincided with some changes to the satellites themselves that were supposedly be to allow the addition of other capabilities. Different capabilities than the initial(v1) up/down radio comms ones (mass 260kg) , and different than the subsequent addition (v1.5) of in-orbit sat-to-sat (intersat) [email protected] comms ones (mass 295kg). The latest v2 satellites have additional functionality and mass 1250kg. They've recently started launching some of the v2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink#
https://mezha.media/en/2022/12/28/sp...es-into-orbit/
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/01/fcc-...atellites.html
Given the quantities of the Starlink constellation (3,300 now) with at least 12,000 planned, and given the various orbits which include polar to at least 60N, plus some that seem to be fully polar, very soon every bit of earth will have a continuous 'stare'.
https://satellitemap.space/
There is a 'military' variant of the v2 that is known to include defence payloads, and it is known that one of those payloads is for earth observation purposes. But it has been noted that the close-up release videos seem to have stopped for all variants.
Individual sensors on these things might be relatively poor, but the cumulative effect need not be. And individual sensors have a habit of getting much better very fast when produced in high volume.
So even without considering all the various other hardware in orbit, we can pretty much be sure that either already or in the very near future, continuous observation of an interestingly useful nature is going to be available to the USA.
In the 80s SAC had B52s rig the Kiev every 30 minutes on its trip from Cuba to the Med.
On one pass the ships crew were lined up in dress uniforms.
Maybe a possible option again….
On one pass the ships crew were lined up in dress uniforms.
Maybe a possible option again….
one if called ‘Spirit of Reykjavik’ to honour the battle of the atlantic
cheers
My understanding is that hypersonic missiles are more effective at PR than they are as weapons. They have a few traits that limit their effectiveness as weapons.
First of all, they need to get up to 25 miles or so altitude in order to travel at mach 5+, and even there, they are still in partial Earth atmosphere, so they build an electrostatic 'bubble' around them, thus they can receive no mid course corrections, so while they are not on a ballistic trajectory and can maneuver (somewhat) they cannot 'see' or hear. When they re-enter the Earth's atmosphere the heat generated from the friction with air molecules is intense, thus they need heat shields on the forepart part of the missile; so they can have no sensors looking out to identify a moving target's current location and they still won't be able to receive mid course updates.
Another problem is that they don't have the ability to carry a large payload, so their warhead size is limited. Unless they have a nuke warhead they couldn't take out a ship anyway.
First of all, they need to get up to 25 miles or so altitude in order to travel at mach 5+, and even there, they are still in partial Earth atmosphere, so they build an electrostatic 'bubble' around them, thus they can receive no mid course corrections, so while they are not on a ballistic trajectory and can maneuver (somewhat) they cannot 'see' or hear. When they re-enter the Earth's atmosphere the heat generated from the friction with air molecules is intense, thus they need heat shields on the forepart part of the missile; so they can have no sensors looking out to identify a moving target's current location and they still won't be able to receive mid course updates.
Another problem is that they don't have the ability to carry a large payload, so their warhead size is limited. Unless they have a nuke warhead they couldn't take out a ship anyway.
