Eye in the sky

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: For intelligence communities around the world, outer space is fast becoming a high-ground, hide-and-seek arena. Spy satellites are the new tools to keep a watchful eye on any sort of subversive activities that threaten to disrupt peace in their respective territories. With the recent successful launch of radar satellite called Risat-2, India has joined the growing list of nations seeking round-the-clock surveillance through spy satellites.

The Indian security forces had been seeking such capability for a long time and the need to procure one quickly was precipitated after the Mumbai attacks. Risat-2 will also provide India the capability to track incoming hostile ballistic missiles. The satellite is capable of taking high-resolution photographs through clouds, in darkness and via camouflage, enhancing real-time intelligence-gathering capabilities. The key to the new technology is high processing speed. The new satellite’s systems can process data at speeds that are 1,000 times faster than a personal computer. Access to the high-tech surveillance tools would, for the first time, allow security and law-enforcement agencies to see high-resolution images and data, which would allow them, for example, to identify terror staging areas, a gang safehouse, or possibly even a building being used by would-be terrorists. Unlike electronic eavesdropping, which is subject to legislative and some judicial control, the use of spy satellites is largely uncharted territory.

Space analysts inform that for more than 40 years, spy satellites have hovered miles above the Earth, and have become increasingly powerful. When they were first launched in the early 1960s, spy satellites were the pride and joy of the US and Soviet militaries. In fact, analysts credit satellite photos—and their accurate information about air force bombers, missiles and navies—for calming tensions during the Cold War.

Be it satellites from the US, Russia, China, Israel or Germany, these pass over every spot on the face of the Earth twice a day, grabbing digital snapshots of places that the intelligence agencies and the military establishments want to see. While the areas of interests could be diverse—mass graves in Bosnia, missile fields in China or Russia, or the environmental disasters in the form of tsunami or tornadoes—the spy satellites have managed to provide a steady stream of black-and-white images.