This missile is not like an Atlas being launched from the western seaboard of the US where 1/2 the West Coast of the US can see the missile, this is a smaller missile and the residual trail disperses fairly quickly. Looking at the crash the skies above look partly cloudy with some atmospheric haze. But yes no video has shown a trail.
If it only had to travel a few miles to hit it's target, that would decrease the chances of the missile being caught on camera (via satellite). I don't see a conspiracy here.
Satellites' capabilities to detect missiles don't depend upon how slow or how far a missile would fly. They detect missile
launches right at the start through infrared sensors.
Infrared is virtually useless even on GEO when there is significant cloudcover or atmospherics that would disperse the signal. The satellite typically switch to ground radar guided tracking when this happens and usually can track a projectile when it is 3-4 miles up - or at least that was the case 5 years ago - I don't know if they have newer technology now.
Well, there's this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-Based_Infrared_SystemBut I don't know if it can detect missiles this small
SBIRS won't track small missiles like the BUK - it's made for tracking the silo based and heavy mobile platform based ICBMs.
Don't know if this is a fake but here's a video captured in infrared by a meteorological satellite which allegedly shows the Ukrainian air defense launching a BUK missile at the Malaysian airliner in Eastern Ukraine (source is unknown):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlK83q86cD8I would have to look at the crash videos a lot more but I remember seeing a lot more cloud cover on that day. I can't what the zoom scale is or make out any landmarks. That's a job for those conspiracy peeps
My point was that satellite infrared sensors can capture smaller missile launches given suitable atmospheric conditions, if of course this video was not an ICBM launch.
The missile was likely much smaller then an ICMB, probably not more then a few dozen feel long at most. Media reports have also said that the types of missiles in question are highly mobile so it was likely not shot from a known missile site.
