Chinese scientists build world's most powerful spy camera
In a breakthrough that could reshape global surveillance, Chinese scientists have developed the world's most advanced spy camera, a tool that promises to revolutionize the future of space-based intelligence. The device uses a laser and can capture details such as a human face from distances of more than 100 km.
Chinese scientists have created the world's most powerful laser camera, capable of distinguishing details such as a human face from low Earth orbit. The technology could redefine global surveillance capabilities, allowing Beijing to observe foreign military satellites with unprecedented precision, the South China Morning Post reports.
The team from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which developed the camera, tested the device at Qinghai Lake, capturing millimeter-resolution images from distances of more than 100 kilometers.
During the experiment, conducted in pristine atmospheric conditions with high visibility, minimal cloud cover and steady wind, scientists pointed the camera lens at a set of reflective prisms placed 101.8 kilometers (63.3 miles) away. The device detected details up to 1.7 mm in diameter and determined the distance to objects with an accuracy of 15.6 mm. This performance is 100 times better than current spy cameras and telescopes that rely on traditional lenses.
To achieve this, the scientists combined a 103-watt laser with real-time digital processing to work with the enormous amounts of data captured by the camera. The technology is based on the principles of synthetic aperture radar using microwave frequencies, but operates at optical wavelengths, allowing it to create much sharper images than systems using microwaves.
Despite this major breakthrough, there are still challenges to be solved. Image quality is highly dependent on weather conditions, and tracking moving targets at such long distances requires extreme mechanical precision.
These obstacles must be overcome before the technology can be translated into practical surveillance, space observation or military intelligence equipment.