←back to thread

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: 0.199s | source
Show context
declan_roberts[dead post] ◴[29 Jun 25 18:28 UTC] No.44415221[source]▶
[flagged]
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.
replies(1): >>44416255 #
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.

replies(3): >>44419118 #>>44419242 #>>44429003 #
1. lupusreal ◴[30 Jun 25 23:26 UTC] No.44429003[source]▶
My dude I want what you are smoking. KH-11s are not geostationary, they're in extremely low polar orbits. They're as low or lower than Starlink satellites and are huge.