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Loss of key US satellite data could send hurricane forecasting back 'decades'

(www.theguardian.com)
312 points trauco | 1 comments | 29 Jun 25 17:39 UTC | HN request time: 0.201s | source
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declan_roberts[dead post] ◴[29 Jun 25 18:28 UTC] No.44415221[source]▶
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lupusreal ◴[29 Jun 25 19:23 UTC] No.44415600[source]▶
Good grief. American KH-11 electro-optical spy satellites have 2.4 meter primary mirrors and orbit at ~300km or less. Ease yourself off the anti-Musk subreddits or wherever you're getting this incoherent nonsense.
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mh- ◴[29 Jun 25 20:39 UTC] No.44416255[source]▶
Additional context for those unfamiliar: KH-11s are thought to weigh 30-40 thousand pounds (~20k kg).

The mirror itself would dwarf anything launched for Starlink, multiple times over.

replies(1): >>44419068 #
declan_roberts ◴[30 Jun 25 03:34 UTC] No.44419068[source]▶
Starlink is 65x closer to earth. If a geostationary satellite was 1 km away, Starlink would be ~15 meters.

Dramatically different scale.

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1. defrost ◴[30 Jun 25 04:03 UTC] No.44419242[source]▶
The communication relay sats are in a geosync orbit at 35,786 km constant.

The imaging satellites with the mirrors and telescopes are more dynamic and in eccentric LEO orbits at a similar height to the starlink sats.

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_KENNEN (and the heading Resolution and ground sample distance indicating the close approach height being closer to earth's surface than typical starlink sat).