Using frequencies of light just beyond those visible to you or I, ORS-1’s cameras can see through darkness and clouds to spot objects as small as 1 meter across from 300km above the Earth. It gets its wonderful sight from its equally wonderfully named Senior Year Electro-Optical Reconnaissance System, the same set of instruments used in the U2 spy planes. It is the first in a program of small tactical satellites being sent up by US intelligence and defence agencies.