If the U.S. military wants live video of a missile launcher vehicle halfway around the world, it must rely upon spy planes or drones in danger of being shot down. Tomorrow, the Pentagon wants space telescopes hovering in geosynchronous orbit that could take real-time images or live video of any spot on Earth.

Russia has reportedly lost contact with its newest military satellite just hours after launching it into space today (Feb. 1), according to Russian reports. The Geo-IK-2 spacecraft is reportedly an Earth-observation satellite designed to build three-dimensional maps to aid the Russian military.

The Russian military is proudly showing off its latest innovations in developing inflatable decoys, intended to fool satellite imagery and other aerial surveillance methods.

The mammoth asteroid-hunting Pan-STARRS telescope is impaired by US military restrictions that keep it from scanning sections of the sky where sensitive military spacecraft might be operating.

The nation’s top scientists and spies are collaborating on an effort to use the federal government’s intelligence assets — including spy satellites and other classified sensors — to assess the hidden complexities of environmental change. They seek insights from natural phenomena like clouds and glaciers, deserts and tropical forests.

The Obama administration plans to kill a controversial Bush administration spy satellite program that would have provided federal, state and local officials with extensive access to spy-satellite imagery — but no eavesdropping capabilities— to assist with emergency response and other domestic-security needs, such as identifying where ports or border areas are vulnerable to terrorism.

The U.S. is exploring the use of commercial satellites to enhance ship identification and communication for the battle against piracy.

U.S. intelligence agencies are capitalizing on North Korea's weekend rocket launch to advance proposals to deploy two new spy satellite systems estimated to cost a total of about $10 billion, according to government and industry officials.

The United States must develop a longer-term strategic plan for the satellites it operates to safeguard national security and the U.S. space industrial base, according to the head of the U.S. spy-satellite agency.

While the unprecedented smashup between a U.S. and Russian satellite earlier this month sparked a lot of attention, another wayward spacecraft — out-of-whack U.S. secret satellite DSP-23 — remains a serious concern.