'Dream' Space Telescope for Military Could Spy Anywhere on Earth
Taking live video of a single location would require satellites to hover by matching the Earth's rotation in geosynchronous orbit about 36,000 kilometres high - but creating and launching a space telescope with the huge optics arrays capable of seeing ground details from such high orbit has proven difficult. As a solution, DARPA - the Pentagon's research arm - envisions a lightweight optics array made of flexible membrane that could deploy in space. Ball Aerospace has just completed an early proof-of-concept review as part of a DARPA contract worth almost $37 million. Read more
DARPA is soliciting innovative system-oriented research proposals in the area of large, low cost, lightweight, deployable, visible and/or infrared electro-optical systems for persistent, tactical, real-time video over denied territory for missile launch detection and tracking from geosynchronous orbit. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in such systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice. The MOIRE program will provide persistent, real-time, tactical video and missile launch detection and tracking to the war fighter. Read more