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Scientists in China have built the world’s most powerful spy camera, capable of recognising people’s faces from low-Earth orbit.
The technology, developed by a team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Aerospace Information Research Institute, could set new standards for global surveillance, offering millimetre-level resolution from 100 kilometres (62 miles) away.
First reported in the South China Morning Post, the optical imaging technology could also allow Beijing to observe foreign military satellites and Earth-based defence structures in unprecedented detail.
The laser-imaging system was able to achieve levels of detail that are 100 times better than the leading spy cameras that use lenses.
A test carried out by Lockheed Martin in the US in 2011 achieved a resolution of 2 centimetres from 1.6km away.
When the new camera was tested across a 101.8km stretch of Qinghai Lake in the north-west of China, it revealed details on the other side of the lake that measured just 1.7mm across.
The lowest altitudes that low-Earth orbit satellites operate at are around 170km, though most are launched to an altitude of around 800km.
The scientists noted that the test across the lake took place during near-perfect weather conditions, meaning poor weather or even light cloud cover could impact the accuracy of the camera.
The spy camera was detailed in a new study, titled ‘Synthetic aperture lidar achieves millimeter-level azimuth resolution imaging at a distance of 100 kilometres for the first time’, in the Chinese Journal of Lasers.
US satellite imaging startup Albedo Space is also working on technology to zoom in on individual humans on Earth, though the founders claim it will not be capable of facial recognition.
The company has already secured multiple defence contracts with the US government, prompting concerns from privacy advocates.
In 2019, the Electronic Frontier Foundation called for regulation on spy satellites, arguing that they went against people’s civil liberties.
“With the advent of real-time video, private satellites could subject the entire world to continuous 24/7 surveillance,” the group warned.