Bob Schroeck wrote on 3/8/2004, 10:16 PM:


 > Speaking of which, despite the in-story explanation for the Emperor's
 > interest, I can't help but sense more groundwork laid here.  Why
 > bring out the satellite tracking of Ranma's movements if there isn't
 > going to be some official recognition of his new position?

    I'll add my voice to Bob's in that this story is keeping me interested 
as we go.  But this bit does push one of my buttons.
    Sattelite surveillance simply doesn't work that way.  Keeping track of 
a single person, in realtime, even with a KH-11, is hard-to-impossible 
for many reasons.  But the biggest single stumbling block here is 
orbital mechanics.  You can't park a sattelite over Japan -- it's 
physically impossible.  And even a geostationary orbit, which can only 
happen *directly* above the equator, can only work at an altitude so 
high as to make visual imaging useless.  Photo recon birds make passes 
over various parts of the Earth on regular intervals, usually several 
days apart, and generally send back still-frame images, not live video. 
  And analysis is *far* from instantaneous.
    Having put in my obligatory space-geek $0.02, I'll admit that it 
doesn't bug me that much, given that this is a Ranma fic and not a Tom 
Clancy novel, and it has little plot effect aside from tweaking the SEAL 
(which *was* funy).  But if that sattelite usage was to play a *major* 
plot role, my suspension-of-disbelief would be seriously wounded. 
That's not a threat to stop reading --I'm having too much fun to stop 
now--, just an FYI for future reference (or for any other auteurs 
planning on (mis)using sattelite imagery in their fics.  You Have Been 
Warned.  Grrr.  Arrg).




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