SpaceX Successfully Launches U.S. NRO Spy Satellite (With video) “SpaceX launched a spy satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) early this morning after a one day delay. The launch appears to have placed the secret payload into a low earth orbit. SpaceX also successfully landed the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket.” Marc’s note: The video portion showing the return of the first stage is quite spectacular, […]

NASA’s Secret Relationships with U.S. Defense and Intelligence Agencies, George Washington University “Furnishing cover stories for covert operations, monitoring Soviet missile tests, and supplying weather data to the U.S. military have been part of the secret side of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) since its inception in 1958, according to declassified documents posted for the first time today by the National Security Archive at The George Washington University.”

Redesign of Planned Space Telescope Would Add Scientific Capabilities, Costs to Original Mission “However, the inherited hardware was designed for another purpose, and the degree to which changes to the hardware must be made to accommodate a different launch vehicle and scientific requirements is uncertain at this time. This uncertainty contributes to higher technical risk and a greater likelihood that costs will increase beyond current estimates, the report says. The […]

NASA Request for Information: Concepts for Applications of Large Space Optics “NASA is soliciting broad community inputs in support of a study activity focused on utilization of large flight qualified optical systems recently transferred to NASA from another Government Agency.” Keith’s note: “Another Government Agency”? Who writes this stuff? This is just goofy. Everyone knows that the NRO gave NASA hardware that was supposed to have been used in spy […]

The telescopes that came in from the cold, Nature “Some astronomers, however, are questioning whether the value of the free hardware– each NRO telescope is worth at least US$250 million– can compensate for the extra costs entailed in going from a 1.3-metre mission to a 2.4-metre mission, which will require a larger rocket and a larger camera. Although the WFIRST mission was expected to cost $1.5billion, one NASA estimate puts […]

>Notice of Intent to Solicit Science Definition Team for National Reconnaissance Orbiter Optical Hardware via Dear Colleague Letter – NRO Gives NASA Two Hubble-Class Telescopes (Shh!), earlier post – NASA’s Stubby Hubbles and Fumbled PR – Are NASA’s New Telescopes NRO Future Imagery Architecture Leftovers?, earlier post Keith’s 20 Aug note: According to this NASA notice, “NRO” stands for either “National Reconnaissance Observatory” or “National Reconnaissance Orbiter”. Nice way to […]

NRO Gifts NASA Two Leftover Space Telescopes, SpacePolicyOnline “The CAA’s response to the newswas rather muted. The reaction was surprisingly flat for a community that received a fairly valuable gift. At a media teleconference later in the day, NASA’s Michael Moore, deputy astrophysics division director,estimated thatabout $250 million in mission costs could be avoided by using one ofthe NRO telescopes. He added that the telescopes cost about $75,000-$100,000 to storeat […]

Spy agency gives NASA two spare Hubbles, Washington Post “I’m told by a government engineer with knowledge of the new instruments that they’re “a successful part of an otherwise failed program on the NRO side.” NASA has a mission for grounded spy telescopes, SpaceflightNow “But the 94-inch aperture on the NRO optical system will permit Hubble-class resolution over a wide field-of-view – imaging a swath of the sky 100 times […]

NASA’s Stubby Hubbles and Fumbled PR “Moore said that the hardware had been “declassified” so that NASA could use it. So, I asked, since it was “declassified”, what the names of these telescopes were and if we could have photos of the hardware. Moore declined to provide the names of the telescopes – or of anything NRO was providing, said that we could not have photos (because things were classified), […]

NASA gets two military spy telescopes for astronomy, Washington Post “The U.S. government’s secret space program has decided to give NASA two telescopes as big as, and even more powerful than, the Hubble Space Telescope. Designed for surveillance, the telescopes from the National Reconnaissance Office were no longer needed for spy missions and can now be used to study the heavens. They have 2.4-meter (7.9 feet) mirrors, just like the […]