North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: Dubai impound ships suspected in cable damage
On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 6:14 AM, Steven M. Bellovin <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:16:57 -0700 > Joel Jaeggli <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Patrick Giagnocavo wrote: > > > > > > Sean Donelan wrote: > > > > > >> Awesome, so could anyone buy a copy of the same images? Which > > >> satellite do you think happened to be taking images of the area > > >> with these ships near the time the cables were broken? Which > > >> company is selling that set of images? > > > > > > Wouldn't it be reasonable that, when the break occurred, they used > > > their optical time domain reflectometer to compute the approximate > > > location of the break, and then just called around for whoever had > > > the best images, or who could quickly task the satellite to get an > > > image? > > > > spot can generally deliver an image within 1 day in 60kmx60km blocks > > assuming no contention for the slot. 20m resolution is more than > > adequate to pick up ships underway at sea. ikonos can deliver 11x11km > > swaths. > > > Right, but those images would be after the fact. > > Assume the ship is moving at 10 knots, which is 18.5 km/hr. In 24 > hours, it can go about 450 km. You can't go south from Alexandria by > ship, except into the Suez canal, but you can go about that far east > (eyeballing Google Maps...) before you reach Israel or > Israeli-controlled waters. A semicircle of that radius has an area of > about 320,000 km^2. You'd need about 100 images (88 by sheer area, but > you won't get an exact match); the pictures alone would cost a > minium of $100K, according to > http://www.spotimage.fr/automne_modules_files/standard/public/p425_ba582c667a21f3b7d1108ad9773629fdSPOT_Commercial_Price_List_-_Jan_2008_without_EULA.pdf > and quite possibly considerably more. *Plus* there are a lot of ships > to consider -- that area includes the northern terminus of the Suez > Canal, and you want good enough evidence to take to a maritime court > somewhere. > > It might be possible. There are a number of unique characteristics of ships including profile and radar fingerprint. I'd like to see the images from the article that was forwarded to the list. -M<
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