Comments on: Feinstein Has “Extraordinarily Serious Concern” Over New EO Satellites http://www.gotgeoint.com/archives/feinstein-has-%e2%80%9cextraordinarily-serious-concern%e2%80%9d-over-new-eo-satellites/ Welcome to got geoint? - The official blog of USGIF. Explore and respond to all things Geospatial Intelligence, and also connect with us using one or all of the social groups! Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:43:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 By: Library: A round-up of Reading « Res Communis http://www.gotgeoint.com/archives/feinstein-has-%e2%80%9cextraordinarily-serious-concern%e2%80%9d-over-new-eo-satellites/comment-page-1/#comment-1122 Library: A round-up of Reading « Res Communis Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:43:07 +0000 http://www.gotgeoint.com/?p=2132#comment-1122 [...] Feinstein Has “Extraordinarily Serious Concern” Over New EO Satellites – Got GEOINT? [...] [...] Feinstein Has “Extraordinarily Serious Concern” Over New EO Satellites – Got GEOINT? [...]

]]> By: Diffraction Limited http://www.gotgeoint.com/archives/feinstein-has-%e2%80%9cextraordinarily-serious-concern%e2%80%9d-over-new-eo-satellites/comment-page-1/#comment-1090 Diffraction Limited Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:48:54 +0000 http://www.gotgeoint.com/?p=2132#comment-1090 If by "performance" you mean "resolution", then there's no getting around the need for large apertures and, probably, large and/or complex and consequently expensive satellites. If "performance" means "usefulness", then you have to ask to whom it's supposed to be useful. The military seems to prefer to trade off resolution for area coverage and revisit time. The intelligence community has, traditionally, opted for resolution uber alles. Maybe a parting of the ways is indicated, with the military getting something like the current GeoEye and DigitalGlobe satellites (which are a lot cheaper than KH-11 derivatives) and the IC sticking with the exquisite legacy design. If by “performance” you mean “resolution”, then there’s no getting around the need for large apertures and, probably, large and/or complex and consequently expensive satellites.

If “performance” means “usefulness”, then you have to ask to whom it’s supposed to be useful. The military seems to prefer to trade off resolution for area coverage and revisit time. The intelligence community has, traditionally, opted for resolution uber alles.

Maybe a parting of the ways is indicated, with the military getting something like the current GeoEye and DigitalGlobe satellites (which are a lot cheaper than KH-11 derivatives) and the IC sticking with the exquisite legacy design.

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