How powerful are the satellites that can view us on earth,like google earth?

The optical resolution is still about the same. What has changed is the software to use the down-links. The new stuff will enable an individual object of interest to be found and tracked. Several task can be preformed on the same video image at the same time. A long way from a photo analyst with a big magnifying glass like in 67.

Satellites have big telescopes, it's true. But Earth's atmosphere interferes. So, no dime dates.

A similar claim is that they can tell the color of a woman's bikini laying on a beach. Most satellites at the time, and probably still were panchromatic, meaning black and white or gray scale. But a color satellite could probably pick out the color. Here's what you do. You get an image. Pixels are maybe a foot or so across. Only part of a pixel is the bikini. Part will be skin or sand. You guess how much of each pixel is what, and you subtract sand or skin from the bikini pixel. And you get a pretty good color calibrated value for the color. It's a fair amount of work.

Telescopes from the ground can do amazing things with adaptive optics. This technique doesn't work from space, as there are no stars to use to make it happen. The Earth, during the day, is very bright. So with large aperture, you can take very short images. Lucky imaging can give you pretty awesome images some times. But not a dime date.

Actual resolving power is classified. I've no idea what the real numbers are. But from physics, and from what is publicly known about the scopes, it can be figured out.

Google often uses imagery from airplanes. This has the advantages of being cheaper, closer to the ground, and so on. It has some disadvantages, many of which can be overcome with an infusion of cash. I've no idea how much was spent.

There are lots of myths about satellites. A satellite large enough to resolve the date on a dime from orbit would be way too big to actually be launched into orbit! Most of the images in Google Earth are not from satellites at all, but from aerial photographs. Sometimes low tech solutions work better than high tech.

There are lots of myths about satellites. A satellite large enough to resolve the date on a dime from orbit would be way too big to actually be launched into orbit! Most of the images in Google Earth are not from satellites at all, but from aerial photographs. Sometimes low tech solutions work better than high tech.