Space Spotters Track Secret Satellites

Ponca City, We Love You writes "When government officials announced last month that a top-secret spy satellite would come falling out of the sky they said little about the satellite itself. They didn't need to. Spotters equipped with little more than a pair of binoculars, a stop watch and star charts, had already uncovered some of the deepest of the government's expensive secrets and shared them on the Internet. Thousands of people form the spotter community. Many look for historical relics of the early space age, working from publicly available orbital information. Still others are drawn to the secretive world of spy satellites, with about a dozen hobbyists doing most of the observing. When a new spy satellite is launched the hobbyists will collaborate on sightings around the world to determine its orbit, and even guess at its function. They often share their information on their web site, satobs.org."

What one seeks to hide, another can uncover

[KublaiKhan]

No real surprise that folks are spotting these things. It's a little hard to hide something orbiting the earth--it's not like one can really hide it behind a bush or under a rock. ...though it might be interesting to insert a spy satellite into an upper stage of a rocket that delivers an otherwise innocuous communications satellite, come to think of it...

Government for you.

[iknownuttin]

Spokesmen for the National Reconnaissance Office have stated that they would prefer the hobbyists not publish their information, and suggest that foreign countries try to hide their activities when they know an eye in the sky will be passing overhead.

And:"If Ted can track all these satellites," Mr. Pike said, "so can the Chinese."

That's damn straight. WTF is it with Government when they say shit like this? What, they think the rest of the World is too stupid to do this? Or photos in the airports by security. I got news for the Government: there are folks out there that have great memories and can draw. Go through security, look around, and then draw what you saw when you sit down and no one will no any different.

Re:This is news?

[rholland356]

Say... no activity since 2004?

Anyone checked on the health of the sat-watchin' dozen? Perhaps they have been dispatched, CIA-style. You know, to keep terrorists from getting their hands on the info, and to protect the children.

Re:real time tracking data on USA-193

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.heavens-above.com/ [heavens-above.com] also has a great tracking site for this Satellite (requires free registration).

c'mon ppl - parent is BS

[tacokill]

Put on your skeptical hats. Do you really think there are "huge machines" in low earth orbit that nobody else, aside from the link, can see? John Walson isn't the only one watching the sky. There are people who do this for a living and nobody else can see what he is seeing. As in, not a single person has been able to confirm his "finding". Therefore, one can only conclude that he is full of it.

There is no mystery because there are no machines.

I can't believe the parent got modded up on /. of all places. Wow....how far we've fallen.

Re:Paint it black?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why don't they all just paint their satellites black?

Because black paint absorbs heat. Satellites need to be temperature controlled, since certain electronics work quite a bit better when they're cold.

Re:New features to block observation.

[jericho4.0]

"and countries that haven't made any serious effort to track satellites"

The civilians benefit from the "many eyes" factor of open collaboration. A complete program to track satellites requires many trained observers, in many locations, who can stand outside all night, every night. Also some math boffins. I wouldn't be surprised to find that even G8 nations with active space programs find the satobs.org info of value.