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Low cost applications of the spy scopes donated to NASA.
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Space Walker  
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 12:18 am
Posts: 211 
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 Low cost applications of the spy scopes donated to NASA. Posted on: Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:42 pmNASA gets two military spy telescopes for astronomy.
By Joel Achenbach, Published: June 4 Quote: The announcement Monday raised the obvious question of why the intelligence agency would no longer want, or need, two Hubble-class telescopes. A spokeswoman, Loretta DeSio, provided information sparingly. “They no longer possessed intelligence-collection uses,” she said of the telescopes. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ ... story.html Blog post on using the new telescopes for planetary defense, asteroid prospecting, and Mars orbiter satellites: Low cost development and applications of the new NRO donated telescopes. http://exoscientist.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... tions.html Bob Clark _________________ Single-stage-to-orbit was already shown possible 50 years ago with the Titan II first stage. Contrary to popular belief, SSTO's in fact are actually easy. Just use the most efficient engines and stages at the same time, and the result will automatically be SSTO. Blog: http://exoscientist.blogspot.com |
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Space Station Member  
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:40 am
Posts: 433 Location: California and Michigan
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Re: Low cost applications of the spy scopes donated to NASA. Posted on: Mon Jun 11, 2012 4:53 am Are there any experiments that can benefit from 3 cameras on a single point in space? Topography etc. ? 3d mapping?
_________________ Let not the bindings of society hold you back from improving it.... the masses follow where the bold explore. |
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Space Station Commander  
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2006 11:15 pm
Posts: 884 Location: Columbus, GA USA
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Re: Low cost applications of the spy scopes donated to NASA. Posted on: Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:42 am Not really. At astronomical distances, the parallex from LEO is not very great. Coordinating orbital platforms for an interferometric array would be tricky.
I would be really surprised if these sats were really all that useful from a science perspective. Beyond the wear and tear on-orbit, they are probably running low on fuel. Also the optics and electronics are probably finely tuned to short ranged surface observation (spying), not for the long, far focused exposures of astronomical observation. But it was nice of the NRO to offer them instead of just de-orbiting them. |
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Space Walker
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 5:18 pm
Posts: 124 Location: UK
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Re: Low cost applications of the spy scopes donated to NASA. Posted on: Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:07 pm JamesG wrote: I would be really surprised if these sats were really all that useful from a science perspective. Beyond the wear and tear on-orbit, they are probably running low on fuel. I think NRO have given NASA the optics for spacecraft which were never built, not two operating satellites. Apparently this still saves about $250 million off the cost of whatever spacecraft NASA produces from them. _________________ We love Google. Google is our friend and protector. |
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Space Station Member
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:40 am
Posts: 433 Location: California and Michigan
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Re: Low cost applications of the spy scopes donated to NASA. Posted on: Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:30 pm I like the idea of a much more powerfull voyager that is vasimir powered and better equipment.
_________________ Let not the bindings of society hold you back from improving it.... the masses follow where the bold explore. |
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Space Station Commander
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2006 11:15 pm
Posts: 884 Location: Columbus, GA USA
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Re: Low cost applications of the spy scopes donated to NASA. Posted on: Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:54 am xiphius wrote: JamesG wrote: I would be really surprised if these sats were really all that useful from a science perspective. Beyond the wear and tear on-orbit, they are probably running low on fuel. I think NRO have given NASA the optics for spacecraft which were never built, not two operating satellites. Apparently this still saves about $250 million off the cost of whatever spacecraft NASA produces from them. That's what I get for just scanning through the news...  |
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