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NASA Moves Forward With Mission Using Spy Satellite Telescope (spaceflightnow.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the NSA-to-NASA dept.

NASA has formally approved plans -- a year ahead of schedule -- for an infrared space telescope launching around 2024 to record unique wide-angle views of the cosmos, seeking answers to questions about mysterious dark energy and searching for habitable worlds around other stars, the space agency announced Thursday. The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope is projected to cost approximately $2.3 billion and should operate for at least six years. WFIRST's centerpiece is a 7.9-foot (2.4-meter) telescope originally built to allow U.S. intelligence officials to spy on adversaries. Instead of turning the powerful telescope toward Earth for a clandestine surveillance mission, NASA plans to repurpose the hardware for cosmic research.

3 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. Langley by WarJolt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Something tells me Langley launched a better spy satellite and said "what the fuck are we going to do with this old piece of shit?" And then they gave the scientists a new toy. Aren't spies great?

    1. Re:Langley by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Basically they had this device laying around on a shell and decided to give it to nasa because they don't need it anymore. They have enough of those in orbit already.

      Think about that. For Nasa it is a big thing to have a Hubble-class telescope in orbit. The intelligence agencies have them lying on a shell as a leftover..

  2. IC and NASA have always had a relationship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Take a look at the early history of satellite reconnaissance
    http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/collections.html

    From the early days, there has always been 3 prongs of the US space program: NASA is the public one with stated science goals, etc.; DoD has theirs which is a bit less public: ICBMs, Weather satellites, Communications; and then the intelligence community, which is very obscured.