"Stealth" satellites
Dave Mullenix (djmullen@facstaff.wisc.edu)
Tue, 09 Jun 1998 15:48:56 -0500
The Manchester Guardian article on spy sats has this interesting
paragraph:
Since writing his controversial report, says Thomson, its become clear
that the US has tried
to hide some of its satellites. Starting in 1990, four satellites have
disappeared from the
view of amateur trackers. Thomson suspects that the satellites use
stealth technology, and
have been moved to higher orbits.
Can anybody tell us which four satellites have "disappeared"? Also, any
ideas on what the "stealth" technology would be? I assume they have
something better than black paint to play with. I wouldn't think that
the aircraft stealth technology would work too well, though. That seems
to mostly involve not creating surfaces that reflect radar waves
directly back to the transmitter. That won't work for visual sighting
because the "light transmitter" is the sun and the "light receivers" are
our eyes and there's usually a very wide angle between the two.
Dave Mullenix