So we can't see the lunar landers left behind on
the moon, not from earth, and we won't send
Spy Satellite level technology in orbit around the
moon...
https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/JeannelleLouis.shtml
Seems to me that this would be a natural first step,
before manned moon or Mars missions.
On the other hand I could see the concerns about
what you're going to do with the data. I mean,
anything you made public would be telling the
Chinese (and everyone else) how to hide from your
spy satellites...
There's also the threat of "Retrieval." If you put what
is effectively a spy satellite in orbit around the moon,
the Chinese are immediately going to try and see if
they can send a mission up to snag it!
Even in pieces it would teach them a lot...
BUT WE'RE TALKING THE MOON HERE!
THE! MOON!
If we can't see technology on the moon then we have
no hope of finding alien tech, unless they're kind enough
to land it on top of us.
Bummer.
Even worse: What about humans? Colonists?
If we can't see tech on the moon, not from earth, then
we can't see the people operating that tech... or what
they're doing with that tech.
We can't monitor missions/colonies.
Now it seems to me that Mars offers better prospects.
As far as physical interception by "Enemy" nations go.
Mars is so far away that just having a return mission
has eluded mankind all these years, and counting. So
it seems unlikely that China or Russia or anyone else
could send tech/people on a mission to snag such a
satellite and return it to earth, certainly not before the
satellite technology has aged out of importance.
Secondly, talking about Mars orbit, we'd likely have
MONTHS -- probably half a year -- to detect and
monitor any hostile launch in the direction of our
tech and devise a response.
Under treaty, we're not supposed to arm our satellites
but we could weaponize them. In a word:
Kamikaze!
Build on some thrusters and that may increase your
mission cost but it would certainly increase your
mission capability a great deal. And, you can use
them to speed your secret spy tech into a head-on
collision with retrieval craft!
Or, point it towards Saturn and fire the rockets! Let
the Chinese try to capture it there...
The physical tech itself could be made quite secure
in orbit around Mars, where you have months instead
of days to detect & respond towards hostile acts, but
what of the data?
Again, if you send spy-level satellites to Mars you can
collect high quality images over a very large area, but
anyone who can see these images then knows exactly
what the capabilities of your spy satellites is, and how
to avoid the prying eyes of our intelligence agencies.
There's a lot of overlap between NASA and the military
so you could probably find people who could get the
clearance necessary to look at said images, and you
can have a lesser "Public" resolution.
More than likely though: You work out precisely WHY
you'd want such images, WHAT they would do, HOW
they would aid in future missions (especially manned
missions) and then you work out exactly how far
away from your "Best" you can get.
Maybe 40 year old tech can do the job! I don't know...
I should think though, with an eye towards manned
missions, being able to see obstacles down to inches
in size might save some lives and, who knows? Maybe
BILLIONS of dollars.
--
https://jtem.tumblr.com/tagged/The%20Book%20of%20JTEM/page/5