§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the implications for personal privacy and for national and commercial security of the 28WA commercial spy satellites that will be launched into orbit later this year, from which photography will be available for purchase.
§ Baroness Miller of Hendon"Spy satellites" is a misnomer for the new generation of commercial high resolution optical satellites, the first of which are due to be launched later this year. These satellites have been developed as commercial ventures, mainly by US companies, to meet the needs of government and private sector users in a wide range of applications such as cartography and mapping, urban planning, precision farming, civil engineering and forestry management. Their resolution, defined as the size of the smallest feature that can be detected from their data, will vary from 5 metres down to 1 metre. This compares with 10 metres for the current French SPOT data, 6 metres for the Indian IRS data and 2 metres for some Russian data. The US satellites will be required to operate in a manner that preserves the national security of the US and observes the international obligations and foreign policy of the US. Although we do not believe that these satellites should pose any threat to personal privacy or national or commercial security, the British National Space Centre will be keeping these issues under review.