First I want to say how much I enjoyed the above write up - so much so that I quickly voted it up, then fixed my hair a little bit, then sent it (in email form) to a satellite engineer I happen to know at a big scary satellite television company (ok, he's my dad).

He sent the following:

Sounds right- BUT
The author "assumes" a 650 Km orbit. Given that the resolution of the object is inversely proportional to the distance, a decrease in orbit to 320 Km increases the resolution to 5 cm. Still not enough to read the license number, but closer.

If an "agency" REALLY wanted to see detail, there is nothing to stop them (except fuel consumption) from dropping an orbit to the 200 Km range for a few orbits.

Also consider other orbits. An elliptical orbit with a 200 mile perigee and 500, 600,1000 mile apogee would provide a quick peek. If you had many of these devices orbiting at the same time, you could cover a LOT of territory "most" of the time.

With all that said, it would still be easier to call somebody and have them go outside and look at the license plate. In all the closed, restricted societies I've ever heard of the greatest danger always came from the people willing to sell information than from all the technology. The technology is best for checking up on what you have been told, and for looking for "trends".

By the way, I have no expertise in this area at all. BUT- If you'd like to look at what's available, try

http://www.terraserver.com/imagery.htm

Bear in mind that the U.S. Government restricts U.S. citizen access to some types of images available in other countries.

Sleep Well, my child

Love Dad

So we are all in agreement. Everyone likes pie!

Sparkleface (my sister) just pointed out how easily our Dad switches from kilometers to miles! He is THAT smart!