‘NOVA’: The ‘Next Generation’ of Drone Surveillance

[wilsonbooks]

http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/nova_the_next_generation_of_drone_surveillance_20130126/


The PBS show “NOVA” is funded in part by arch-conservative David Koch and defense companies like Lockheed Martin. It often smacks of TED-talk greasiness and rarely criticizes its subjects. But the series’ latest installment on unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, appears to contain new, genuinely informative revelations.

Those unfamiliar with UAVs will find a concise summary of the current, publicly known state of play as well as a brief history of their development. What appears to be new are the details of a panoramic camera called Argus developed by Britain-based BAE Systems, the third-largest defense contractor in the world.

“Today we’ve developed sensors that can watch, with an all-seeing eye, and see an area about the size of a small city. All at one time,” said David Deptula, a lieutenant general in the U.S. Air Force.

At 1.8 billion pixels, Argus is the world’s highest-resolution camera. For comparison, a quick Google search suggests that the next highest-resolution camera, available to professionals, is a Swedish-made Hasselblad, which clocks in at 200 million pixels.

[gordianot]

1. Maybe RW nutjobs will quit worrying about dark colored helicopters.

It is not what you see or hear.

[blkmusclmachine]

2. Total Information Awareness. In the works before 9/11.