Satellites may soon be having a far bigger effect on the grey nomad lifestyle than simply delivering high-speed broadband access to remote travellers.
With the Government announcing this week that it is to finance the launching of two new satellites, renewed focus is being thrown on the sheer volume of hardware orbiting the earth … and what it is capable of doing!
The overseas experience suggests that grey nomads who try to camp without putting cash in the honesty box might one day be rumbled by Big Brother looking down from space.
Most people are dimly aware that machinery hundreds of kilometres up above our heads is capable of photographing land with such clarity that individual trees and animals can be pinpointed.
And it could well be that it is more than those carefree days of nude sunbathing next to the van that could be in danger!
The BBC reports that, in Europe, farmers who claim more agricultural subsidies than they should are now more likely to be caught out by a camera in the sky than an inspector calling with a clipboard. Scanning a farm with a satellite apparently costs about one third as much as sending an inspector on a field visit.
In 2010, about 70% of the total required controls on farm payments in the EU were done by satellites, which photographed more than 210,000 sq km (81,000 sq miles) of land in all.
Here in Australia satellites are routinely used to monitor land use, especially vegetation clearance. But spy in the sky technology could soon be getting up a lot more close and personal with drones – an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) – being trialled for the job in France.
Drones are best known for their role as remote-control killers in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal areas, but the BBC says supporters see a role for smaller and much simpler drones in agricultural monitoring. They can get up close and take sharp photographs and, unlike satellites which always look directly down, drones can get an angled view of their subject.
A discussion paper prepared for a European Commission workshop in Brussels envisages their use not only in crop or farm monitoring, but also terrain cartography, goods transport, monitoring of borders, the fight against illegal immigration and drug trafficking, and intervention in natural or industrial disasters. And from there is it really such a giant leap to have Big Brother keeping an eye on the campsite honesty box action, checking who hasn’t properly extinguished their campfire, who is failing to obey the 10pm no-noise regulations … and, heaven forbid, who hasn’t put the seat down after using the drop toilet?
And those carefree remote solar showers will certainly never be as relaxing again!
I wish to buy a satellite so I can have Internet access (and TV reception) wherever I go in remote Australia. I am assuming that a satellite will do this for me. Can someone advise me what satellite I need,given that it needs to fit in a Jayco campervan, and also where to buy it,either a normal bricks and mortar store or online.
Regards Brian