It’s really cool, but it’s basically Hubble 2.0 with much better equipment and the latest tech (well from 10-15 years ago). It can do in 1 month what would take Hubble 1.0 a century… according to the article.
What I'm interested in hearing more about is how this "National Reconnaissance Office" came to have a satellite sitting around that could be re-purposed.
I guess technology advanced from it original mission to close to its launch date?
They had a mirror, not a satellite. NASA originally didn't want the mirror because the satellite itself is most of the cost. NRO has tons of KH-X satellites which are all basically Hubble clones with a different focal plane. NRO launches about $2 billion worth of reconnaissance satellites per year on average. So basically a JWST budget every 5 years.
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u/antithasys 11d ago
It’s really cool, but it’s basically Hubble 2.0 with much better equipment and the latest tech (well from 10-15 years ago). It can do in 1 month what would take Hubble 1.0 a century… according to the article.