• frezik@midwest.social
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    7 months ago

    There aren’t enough spy satellites to cover the entire planet all the time. They have prescribed and predictable orbits. If the attacker is a bit sophisticated, they could even time the attack to make sure there are no satellites around when they do it. The orbits aren’t exactly public knowledge, but it’s not something that can be hidden, either. There’s a whole amateur community out there for tracking them. But even if the attacker didn’t time it, it’s not likely they’d be noticed in a random Iraqi village, anyway.

    This is why we still have spy planes. If amateurs can track spy satellites, then so can nation states. They have a use, but they’re a little too predictable. But a spy plane won’t be watching every Iraqi village, either.