
Amateur astronomers tracking the world’s spy satellites - n0pe_p0pe
https://www.supercluster.com/editorial/meet-the-amateur-astronomers-hunting-for-spy-satellites
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kulahan
I'm super late to the party here, but I thought this was an interesting story.

I used to work on a space program, and one of the guys on my team had been in
the industry for quite some time. He told me he _hates_ these amateurs. Not
because they're enjoying a hobby, but because they're so damn good. Without
getting into specifics, his company had launched a spy satellite at one point
that was fairly revolutionary in that it was able to perform its task without
a formerly necessary (large and expensive) component.

These amateurs noticed it and started talking about it online so fast that his
company genuinely thought someone had broken their security clearance and told
the public about the new development. They investigated a bunch of people at
the company before finally being like "holy shit, these guys are just _really_
good".

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analogmemory
I really enjoyed the experimental layouts the various stories had. Had an art
magazine feel to it.

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aaronbrethorst
Check out Trevor Paglen for more:
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=paglen&sort=byPopularity&prefi...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=paglen&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story)

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rollulus
I especially liked his CCC talk "Seeing The Secret State: Six Landscapes" [1]
a lot.

[1]: [https://media.ccc.de/v/30C3_-_5604_-_en_-
_saal_1_-_201312282...](https://media.ccc.de/v/30C3_-_5604_-_en_-
_saal_1_-_201312282300_-_seeing_the_secret_state_six_landscapes_-
_trevor_paglen)

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gmoore
i get file not found on any of the video downloads at this link? Anybody able
to get it?

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kuroguro
Also:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j56s46e97Lo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j56s46e97Lo)
Just finished watching, amazing talk :)

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callinyouin
> Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center to deliver a human skull

What?! I don't have time right now to read the entire article, but I did read
maybe 1/4th of it and didn't see any other mention of this payload. There's
also no mention of the word "skull" anywhere else on the page. Why in hell
would a human skull be shot into orbit??

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ASalazarMX
Calm down, it was part of the skeleton crew.

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azthecx
Where they trying to create a skeleton key?

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3mm4
Love this - super well-researched and layouts feel different in a good way.

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sandworm101
"Northernmost canadian _provinces_ " Um.. they are not provinces. They are
territories. Most all the provinces start at the us boarder and end well short
of the arctic circle. It is like saying Guam is America's most western state.

And bonus points for any american who can name the territories relevant to
this article.

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Stratoscope
West Coast native here (Oregon and California). I got Yukon, if it's relevant.

Can my friends in the mysterious east fill in the others?

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naniwaduni
None of the territories are actually in the east. The other territory in
question is presumably the Northwest Territories, since Nunavut is the
anachronism.

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Stratoscope
For an Oregon boy like me, the "mysterious east" is everything from Idaho on.
Just like how East Coast Americans charmingly call the east-central part of
the continent the "Midwest".

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at-fates-hands
> Just like how East Coast Americans charmingly call the east-central part of
> the continent the "Midwest".

Most New Yorkers couldn't show you where North Dakota is on a map, let alone
most of the Midwest states like Michigan or Kansas. Most of the East Coast
people I know refer to the Midwest as "fly over country".

