this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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Color me skeptical of this story. The author no doubt believes it.
But the fact that this was organized and sponsored by NG makes me skeptical of this take. Maybe it's less scientists innovating and inventing and more an NSA/NRO-approved, NG-led, soft disclosure of technology that already exists. The scientists are likely reinventing the wheel after getting a nugget of an idea seeded by NG.
Civilian optical space telescopes lag far behind spy ones. Literally decades.
KH-11 is much, much older than Hubble.
Some improved KH-11s were deemed unnecessary or out-of-date and gifted to NASA. Never flown, still in a warehouse somewhere.
I have strong suspicions that Webb's folding mirror system wasn't exactly new and novel either. Probably just a refinment of something NRO and Ball Aerospace worked out many years prior. No hard evidence for that, however.
Anyway, long-winded way of saying there's a decent chance these guys are trying to figure out something that's already floating around up there and maybe already 5-10 years old or more.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NRO_launches#Launch_history?wprov=sfla1