Can a spy satellite detect a submarine's nuclear reactor from space?

As others have suggested, something other than a satellite would expand your options. The option I suggested before has a couple of huge "ifs" in it; as it is, satellites monitor ocean depths by tracking tiny changes in the surface or gravity, but not by actually "seeing" below the surface. To use a satellite you need some form of transmission in the EM spectrum that can penetrate from sub-surface to space and back again.
It would be easier to have something on the ocean surface (or under it) which could use current/near-future extrapolations of technology. There's always the opportunity to do something like using coastal ULF (ultra-low frequency) stations with "repeater" bouys dotted around the international waters (in contravention of various treaties, but that can be used in the plot, too); those bouys could then transmit back to a satellite, though... :)

K
 
How about inventing something like:

MDR (Magnetic Density Refraction)

The satellite utilises stations situated in the ocean to triangulate a large moving metallic object. A cross between SOSUS and NORAD.
 
Hi, my suggestion may be taking this in a direction you are not happy with, but I wonder if Remote Viewing would be of any interest in this dilemma.

That way you could have a person situated anywhere on, in or above the planet who is remotely viewing the target subject.

If you're interested, look into a guy called Ingo Swann, and/or pick up Joseph McMoneagle's Mind Trek

pH
 
Gary Compton said:
Okay, in my WIP, I have a sub that has a cloaking device. The system bends sound waves around the hull and allows them to travel in their original direction, thus making the boat invisible to sonar.

I need a spy satellite to pick her up. Either a radar, infra-red or system that can track a nuclear reactor.

Any ideas chaps and chapesses?

I've done the usual research but nothing jumps out:)
Click to expand...

Hmm, if this is a hard SF story you need to get out and do some research to find out how the world's navies spot hostile subs these days (clue: one of the other posters thinks they use passive sonar, which sounds about right.) If you are not taking that approach you can be a bit more imaginative, but try not to use too much pseudo-scientific babble. "Cloaking device" is probably still in the latter category.
 
Alex said:
Tom Clancy (Hunt for Red October, et al) Knows the real Stuff.

Confirmed by a buddy of mine who was an officer in nuke subs in the the '70's.
Click to expand...

Favorite film of all time. I didnt want to copy him though:eek:
 
Hi,

Like the others I have no idea what can be spotted from space. My thought would be little under the oceans. However a series of undersea passive listening posts, basically listening for the particular sounds of the sub's screws and sending that data to a single base where it can be assembled into a picture would work well. You could triangulate the sub's location from the volumes in each of the posts, work out its path and then bounce that information to a satellite to scan that area of the ocean. If the sub cruises close enough to the surface to leave a wake, or actually surfaces, the satellites could probably spot it. I mean google found my home and a modern sub is a lot larger.

Also if the sub is close to the surface even if not leaving a wake, infra red from orbit could probably spot its heat signature.

Ooops - Got to go - Men in black are at the door!!!

Cheers, Greg.
 
Okay I'm thinking about the 3G network. If you have the correct device and pin number you can access the network. It's like a forcefield boosted by a network of antennas.

I presume that the 3G network knows the location of someone when they enter their space.

What if, you placed a network of antennas on the sea bed and created some sort of magnetic forcefield, then if a sub passes through it and disturbs it, their location is recorded?
 
Similar technology already exists, both in the form of sonar buoys and underwater acoustic positioning. The link below is mainly about smaller systems, but it could be ramped up in scale. As the page says, there are military and police applications. You could possibly adapt a similar system to measure magnetic changes as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_acoustic_positioning_system

The US Navy used hydrophones to track Soviet subs in the North Atlantic. Supposedly that started in the 1950s. Hope that helps.
 
Actually, when it comes to Tom Clancy, he didn't really know all that much. His brother, however, did.

Tom's brother got into quite a lot of trouble over the mention of SOSUS in The Hunt For Red October, especially as it was used to track every single Russian nuclear submarine that entered during the Cuban missile crisis.

A friend of mine who was in the navy once said they heard the QE2 leaving New York via sonar, whilst they were docked at Gibraltar.
 
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