Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera up and running

[Jon P. Inghram]

111.8 megabyte, 23444 x 23377 JPEG (along with more reasonable sized versions) at http://hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu/images/...A_000823_1720/

Resolution is about 25 cm (10 in) per pixel.

[MultimediaMan]

Well, more than a few Intelligence specialists outside US the are shitting themselves about now: 10 inch per pixel resolution. And this is what they will publicly acknowledge.

Granted, this is from a lower orbit than a terrestrial satellite, and it is peering through only a trace atmosphere, but knowing what I do about how earthbound observatories counteract atmosheric optical effects I suspect we have camera overhead now that can at least duplicate this feat, if not surpass it all together.

This may a duplicate of the ploy the Reagan Administration pulled on the Soviets before some Nuclear Arms Talks in the early 80's: they used an orbital Ground-Penetrating Radar to map the subterranean aquifers from the Nile Delta into the Mediterranean, and put the images in an article in the National Geographic. The Russians suddenly became very interested in those talks.

The subtle message was: We know where all of your underground silos are; including the ones you thought you had hidden from us.