Vertical Mediation: Geospatial Imagery and the US Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

Abstract

Immediately before and after the 9/11 attacks the United States’ National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) launched three new satellites from California’s Vandenberg Air Force base, planned long before 9/11, sending up a Lacrosse radar imaging satellite on August 17, 2001, a signal detection satellite on September 9, and a K-11 satellite known as USA-116 on October 5 (Yugoslavia… 2006). In addition, two new commercial remote sensing satellites—Ikonos owned by SpaceImaging, which later became GeoEye, and QuickBird owned by Digital Globe—were launched in 1999 and 2001 respectively. These state and commercial satellite projects, planned long before the 9/11 attacks, have been key elements of US global reconnaissance in the context of the war on terror. To support the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the NRO reportedly had six spy satellites flying over the country each hour (Yugoslavia… 2006). Between 2001 and 2013, the NRO launched an estimated 24 more satellites into orbit, with several more waiting in the wings, and US private remote sensing companies have launched at least 6 more earth imaging satellites.

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