French-UAE Intel Satellite Deal in Doubt – US Parts Raise Security Concerns
My understanding is that the physics of imaging satellites is pretty precise, even a few ounces bias on one side can make the whole thing useless. Getting equipment of any sort installed on a very expensive satellite without anybody knowing would be pretty much impossible. I can't even imagine the complexity of designing such a device...it's not like it's a device that can be fired from a gun 300 meters away that sticks to the satellite and some 007 type happens to make the shot while the satellite is in transit to the payload fairing.<p>It would have to fit perfectly within the power and payload envelope of the satellite and literally not be noticed by any of the engineers or designers working or designing what's essentially a 1-off piece of space hardware. And having it in relative isolation during assembly for months or even years.<p>It'd be like somebody sticking an extra hard drive or NIC in the computer you built at home and you not noticing it.<p>Anybody care to speculate what this device was within the bounds of physics or is this just paranoid politics over some specialized American built hardware that France needed to source for the comm system?<p>The stated story smells.<p><a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20140107-competitor-sabotage-behind-france-uae-spy-satellite-doubts/" rel="nofollow">http://www.france24.com/en/20140107-competitor-sabotage-behi...</a><p>has a more reasonable analysis<p><i>Finding backdoor technology two months after signing a contract that neither the UAE experts nor the French engineers had been aware of also seems unlikely, according to both experts.<p>"The most likely explanation is that a competitor has planted a seed of doubt in an attempt to sabotage the deal," said Charret.</i>