Its been a rough year for NASAs science program, with a major pullback in its Mars exploration program and continuing threats to cancel the James Webb Space Telescope. <\/p>\n
Now comes news today that NASA has acquired two Hubble-like telescopes from the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. Government agency in charge of designing, building, launching, and maintaining Americas intelligence satellites. <\/p>\n
These telescopes, which are identical, were built eight years after Hubble so they have greater capabilities, such as being able to image a field of view 100 times larger than Hubble. They are space-ready but were never used. <\/p>\n
The newly acquired telescopes are a shorter, stubbier version of the Hubble shown above. (NASA) <\/p>\n
This is a great opportunity for NASA, and Ill get to that in a moment, but stop and think about this for a moment. The Department of Defense has the kind of funding needed hundred of millions to billions of dollars, presumably to build not one, but two, Hubble-like optical telescopes and then never use them. <\/p>\n
Also unanswered is what the telescopes might have been used for by the NRO, but one guesses it wasnt for probing the complexities of dark energy. <\/p>\n
But thats what NASA wants them for. The telescopes fit the nature of the kind of instrument NASA needs to conduct its Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope mission, ranked as the top priority among large science mission in the countrys most recent survey of astronomy and astrophysics projects. <\/p>\n
The telescopes are space-ready, but far from being a ready to launch project. They still need a spacecraft that includes power, communications, control and thermal protection systems, in addition to a launch vehicle and a means to control them from the ground. <\/p>\n
Nevertheless the telescopes could provide a critical impetus to getting the WFIRST project moving forward. <\/p>\n
It could be a real game changer for a project that was having trouble getting a lot of traction, said Alan Dressler, a Carnegie Institute astronomer who has studied the telescopes for astronomical use. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Follow this link: <\/p>\n
NASA gets 2 Hubble-like telescopes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Its been a rough year for NASAs science program, with a major pullback in its Mars exploration program and continuing threats to cancel the James Webb Space Telescope. Now comes news today that NASA has acquired two Hubble-like telescopes from the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. Continue reading