When I was a college kid 40+ years ago, I took a remote sensing course. We looked at a picture of a dime taken from satelite...you could read the date clearly...also could see deep into the earth and thru clouds using proper electro-magnetic wavelength imaging...Pretty neat.
You don't really expect us to believe that do you? There is no way that we had the ability 40 years ago to adjust for atmospheric distortion sufficiently to be able to read the date on a coin from a satellite in orbit. I seriously doubt we could today, even in the most top secret tech the government has, much less in something that would be shown to college students. Ditto the ability to see deep into the earth using "proper electro-magnetic wavelength imaging". If we could, we would be using it in the planetary exploratory probes we are sending out.
If either of these exist, and were available 40 years ago, I'm sure you can link to it, right?
Just a Shooter (and occasionally skeptic)
Well....you're just plain mistaken, or lacking information....The visible part of the electro-magnetic spectrum is very narrow...very small....images taken using other wavelengths ..then converted to visible for our eyes is the key. There is now atmospheric distortion using some wavelnghts outside the human visible spectrum. Look it up yourself...you got a computor. 5-6cm resolution was possible back then from 100 mile orbit I believe with proprietary lense material...enhancement improved resolution...
..TM7
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Sorry TM, that's just hogwash. If it is possible, link to it. Also, I see you've changed from "read the date on a dime" to "5-6cm resolution". Now, 5-6cm (about 2 - 2.5 inches) I could believe, maybe, but I'm even skeptical of that being possible from Earth orbit 40 years ago in the public domain.
The rest, sorry, no way. Come on, it has only been 2 years since NASA was able to show pictures of the lunar landing sites, by showing the shadows of the craft, not the craft themselves. And they had to do it FROM LUNAR ORBIT, with no atmosphere to interfere.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/apollosites.htmlIf that's the best they can do from an orbiter specifically designed to take images of the lunar surface, no way can you get your claimed resolution from Earth orbit through the atmosphere.
Go ahead, pull the other one, that leg's getting longer than the other...
Just a Shooter