HN Explorer

22 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 48.2 ms ] thread
alex_hitchins
I wonder what the 'refresh-rate' is of a scan, as in how many times a second/minute/hour is the image refreshed. I doubt such a wide area could be real-time. Guessing it's enough that it's possible to track and locate rogue ships.
huffmsa
Why is it that basically every story coming out of the UK makes Orwell look more and more like a prophet?
pjc50
Maritime law enforcement is a rather traditional role of the Royal Navy and hardly Orwellian. The radar-based satellite is arguably less worrying than the traditional US military spy satellites.
mmjaa
I don't remember voting for the UK to police my countries sovereign waters.

Fact is, the UK has no real place in the world if it isn't policing things such as the worlds oceans, or its finances. This is a role it has granted itself, un-democratically - one may even say, Imperiously...

swarnie_
What's your proposed alternative?
nkrisc
Natural resources and the environment don't respect borders. All countries should be watching what others do to shared natural resources.
Fiahil
For once, this is about tracking down illegal operations that would otherwise destroy this planet's most precious resource.

Please, take a look at this http://globalfishingwatch.org/ to get a grasp about what's at stake.

jstanley
What's the problem with "illegal shipping" anyway? Surely it's not worth launching a satellite just to stop the odd customs-evader?

What is this really for?

mmjaa
To establish precedent for the UK policing the worlds oceans - a goal its had on its roster for centuries now.
gadders
Well, they did use it to stop slavery...
mmjaa
.. and as well, exercise an iron grip over the third worlds' economy ..
detritus
Illegal fishing is a big contender and is one avenue I think is sorely needed in this world of horrific natural/resource depletion and by-catch waste, despite what certain punters with an axe to grind (eg @mmjaa, below) may believe.
TwoQ
For once, news about the UK Government tracking things that DOESN'T look like 1984.
dzhiurgis
FWIW Iridium already does the same thing on a global scale. Includes AIS and ADS-B tracking (tho both can be switched off easily).
danielvf
That’s not really the same thing at all - listening for a deliberate transmission from a ship announcing its location is easy, required only an antenna, and can be done from a cubesat.

This is an active radar in space.