China’s New Spy Satellite Sees Faces from 100 km Away

According to a report, the satellite significantly outperforms modern spy cameras and telescopes with an approximate performance increase of 100 times.

Moreover, the new technology provides an opportunity for the surveillance of foreign satellites, capturing a very high level of detail that has not been achieved before.

The reason the spy satellite has an edge over other SAR (synthetic aperture radar) imagery systems is that it relies on optical wavelength, unlike other imagery systems that operate on microwave radiation, producing clearer images as a result.

However, there are speculations that unfavorable weather conditions may impact the satellite’s precision, as testing was done when the weather was nearly perfect, MSN reported.

According to the South China Morning Post, the scientists conducted a test across Qinghai Lake in the northwest of the country with a new system based on synthetic aperture lidar (SAL), a type of laser radar capable of constructing two-dimensional or three-dimensional images.

During the test, which targeted arrays of reflective prisms placed 63.3 miles (101.8 km) away from the lidar system, the device detected details as small as 0.07 inches (1.7 millimeters) and measured distances to within 0.61 inches (15.6 mm).

Military experts have warned that space is likely to be the next frontier of warfare in an increasingly technology-dependent world.