Russia is working on new, advanced surveillance satellites. But U.S. spooks are already a step ahead.

The Russian military is apparently getting ready to launch a new generation of high-tech spy satellites.

It could help Moscow begin to match the as-yet-unrivaled resolution of America's own eyes in orbit. But the U.S. space force isn't standing still. While Russia races to catch up to the United States in one particular aspect of orbital reconnaissance—that is, imagery detail—the United States is plotting a sort of technological sidestep that could actually extend its lead over its rivals in space-based espionage.

Moscow reportedly plans to launch three of the new Hrazdan satellites—one each in 2019, 2022, and 2024. Essentially orbital telescopes that point down toward Earth, the Hrazdans will replace Russia's two existing Persona spy satellites.

Moscow has come to rely heavily on its military spacecraft to support long-distance deployments. Spy satellites, including the Personas, have played a central role in the Russian intervention in Syria, helping to spot targets for Russian bombers and cruise missiles.

The Hrazdans are built around huge, finely-crafted lenses. Where the Personas feature 1.5-meter-diameter lenses, the Hrazdans boast lenses with a diameter greater than two meters, according to Kommersant, a Russian newspaper.

The Personas maintain circular orbits around Earth at an altitude of 700 kilometers. At that altitude, the older sats' lenses afford them a 31-centimeter resolution, Ted Molczan, an independent satellite-tracker and space expert, told The Daily Beast. In other words, when a Persona takes a snapshot of the Earth's surface, each pixel in the image represents an area 31 centimeters by 31 centimeters.  

At the same altitude, the Hrazdans would significantly improve on the Personas. Their resolution could go as high as 24 centimeters, according to Molczan.

"This is a significant upgrade for the Russian capabilities," Brian Weeden, a space expert with the Secure World Foundation in Colorado, told The Daily Beast.

But while Russia focuses on improving its spy satellites' resolution, the United States is working hard to make its own spacecraft more responsive—and combining them with for-hire, commercial satellites. That's a major, major shift for the American military and intelligence communities.The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, which operates America's main spy satellites on behalf of the military and intelligence communities, can get resolutions as high as seven centimeters from its KH-11 Keyhole spy satellites, whose 2.4-meter-diameter lenses formed the basis of NASA's famous Hubble telescope.