Spy satellites become reluctant space celebs, get their own paparazzi

Not only do American military satellites have to put up with the constant threat of ultrasonic space droppings, now they must also suffer the prying lenses of a couple of Frenchmen. Thierry Legault and Emmanuel Rietsch have spent the past two years turning consumer-grade components into a system that can keep up with the zippy and supposedly secret movements of craft like the X-37B space plane and the NROL-49 low-Earth orbit spy sat. Hit the source link and you'll see videos of the International Space Station, which they also managed to capture with steady-ish focus as it hurtled through space-time. Looks like nothing will thwart these guys, except maybe nano-satellites.

Spy satellites become reluctant space celebs, get their own paparazzi originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Jun 2011 07:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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