--- title: "Trump Tweet Accidentally Reveals Secrets About US Spy Satellites" description: "Astronomy experts managed to glean much more from a tweet of a spy satellite image of an Iranian rocket base tweeted by President Donald Trump last week." date: "2019-09-03" modified: "2019-09-03" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-tweet-secrets-spy-satellites" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "donald trump" - "iran" - "satellite imagery" - "spy" - "the digest" --- # Trump Tweet Accidentally Reveals Secrets About US Spy Satellites ![Astronomy experts managed to glean much more from a spy satellite image of an Iranian rocket base tweeted by President Donald Trump last week.]() *\Image: Donald Trump via Twitter\* ## Classified Tweet In [recent tweet](), U.S. President Donald Trump included a smartphone picture of Iran's Semnan Launch Site One — a location where U.S. authorities [believe]() a rocket failure took place. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1167493371973255170 But astronomy experts managed to glean much more from the simple image. By analyzing the angle at which the image was taken, they apparently figured out which spy satellite took it and when. Dutch astronomer and asteroid tracker Marco Langbroek suggests the image could've been taken by USA 224 — an extremely secretive recon satellite which cost around two billion dollars — a day before Trump tweeted the image. https://twitter.com/Marco_Langbroek/status/1167809039872475136 ## But Her Emails The suspected KH-11-type optical imaging satellite launched in 2011, but has been visible to amateur astronomers and trackers since then. "They're super bright in the sky and are easy to find," Michael Thompson, a graduate student in astrodynamics at Purdue University, [told *NPR*](). ## Oh Doubt But the extremely high resolution of the image has some astronomers puzzled. Calculations put the resolution at an estimated 10 centimeters per pixel, while the newest commercial satellites take images at only 30, [according to *Quartz*]()*.* "The level of detail in the image is incredible," wrote Langbroek in a [blog post](). "These are high resolution optical satellites that resemble the Hubble Space Telescope, but look down to Earth instead of to the heavens." **READ MORE:** [Trump Accidentally Revealed The Amazing Resolution Of U.S. Spy Satellites]() \[*Forbes*\] **More on spy satellites:** *[US Air Force X-37B Space Plane Spotted In Orbit]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()