NASA gets two military spy telescopes for astronomy

Nasa is underfunded because it can be. It serves the purpose of being the public face of the space program. I think the approach taken in deciding on the funding is. "hey if the want to spend 600 million on program x they can figure out a way to do it for 300 million. They are a bunch of smaart people." And it isn't as if they have really any firm long term goals they are shooting for. Their goals are based on the monetary constraints they face. So everyone is happy, in general. If they were to shut down Nasa and have the military run the public face of the space program it would cost twice as much at least.

I wonder how long those birds have been up there. I'd guess at least two decades. Maybe three.

It is quit remarkable how we humans allow our governments to waist all that tax money on stuff nobody is allowed to see. Even with this in mind, it's paid by the public.

Incredible how they get away with everything. BUT it is a good thing for NASA cause they need a little boost.

Last ten years of NASA reminds me of somebody throwing away their dreams.

reply to post by sevensheeps

It is quit remarkable how we humans allow our governments to waist all that tax money on stuff nobody is allowed to see.

Personally, I don't consider keeping an eye on what other countries are doing (N. Korea, China, Russia, Iran...) to be a waste.

This isn't to say that money isn't wasted through poor management but that is bound to occur in any bureaucracy.

reply to post by Phage


At least here they save some money giving these 2

According to AmericaSpace it is the KH-11 Spysat.

NRO says the telescopes which have high tech lightweight mirrors far more advanced than Hubble’s were manufactured between the late 1990s and early 2000s. Senior NASA and university astronomers have inspected the twin mirrored optics and found them to be superior to the Hubble Space Telescope for detecting and imaging extrasolar planets and gathering evidence to define dark energy. Highly mysterious dark energy accounts for 70% of gravitational-like forces in the cosmos that are now pushing continued expansion of the universe.

resolution of 3.9" from an altitude of 200m. (I hate inches, and miles. Cannot really get an intuitive feel for it).

As NRO telescopes, the optics were designed for looking at objects on Earth to provide up to 3.9 inch resolution from 200 mi. altitude or higher.

a more detailed article can be found here
www.americaspace.org...-20825

More on the KH-11 here
www.globalsecurity.org...

I wonder how long it will take them to retrofit these units.

reply to post by Hellhound604

Senior NASA and university astronomers have inspected the twin mirrored optics and found them to be superior to the Hubble Space Telescope for detecting and imaging extrasolar planets..

Yes, and the technology the military have is capable of much more. They are using science that relies on fork holograms and optical vortices, but the manufacture of the spiral phase plates required for the sensors is pushing the limits of known, to the public anyway, technology. Testing has been done using the Gallileo telescope, so you can bet the Vatican is involved. I'd think that top secret mission that landed recently was testing out some of this technology.