Secret American Space Agency Gives NASA Two Spy Telescopes

[Newearthman Profile Website]

http://gizmodo.com/5915509/secret-ameri ... the-hubble

Secret American Space Agency Gives NASA Two Spy Telescopes More Powerful Than the Hubble

What do you know about the National Reconnaissance Office? Did you know that the shadowy space agency has two spy telescopes more powerful than the Hubble that they're simply not using anymore? And did you know that it gifted them to NASA for studying the secrets of the universe? Yep, that's exactly what happened.

The NRO-1 and NRO-2 telescopes are currently sitting dismantled in an upstate New York warehouse, waiting to be retrieved. According to the Washington Post, the mirrors of the telescopes measure 7.9-feet in diameter, just like the Hubble. But unlike the creaky telescope currently in orbit, the NRO hardware has a secondary mirror enabling 100 times the resolving power.

This, predictably, has scientists and researchers very enthusiastic. According to the NY Times, many believe this will rejuvenate the American space program, hoping the added power of the telescope will allow for the study of dark energy as it relates to the expansion of the universe.

Astronomers have lobbied for a space mission to investigate dark energy ever since observations of the exploding stars known as supernovae indicated that the expansion of the universe was speeding up, the discovery that won Dr. Reiss and two other American astronomers the Nobel Prize. The fate of the universe, as well as the nature of physics, scientists say, depends on the nature of this dark energy.

But there's a lot of work that needs to be done before that can happen. There's currently no program—no money, no engineers, no facilities—in place to get these instruments up into orbit. The telescopes even lack the cameras, spectrometers, and navigational tools necessary for operation.

In fact, little is known about what the telescopes were used for previously, or why they're currently sitting dismantled in a government building. The NRO, though a public space agency, deals almost exclusively with spy satellites and other space-related gear pertaining to intelligence gathering. According to NASA, the satellites likely won't be operational until 2020 at the earliest.

But when these things are ready, oh boy. We'll have reasons to be excited.

[Eldorado Profile]

Cant wait.......

another spy agency gift to the world......

wait....isnt that what NASA actually is.....??? ???

[Newearthman Profile Website]

This is a huge conspiracy that is right in front of our face in the open for all to see. This kind of makes me want to laugh my ass off!

[Bert666 Profile]

done some mining and found this

In September 1992 the Department of Defense acknowledged the existence of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an agency established in 1961 to manage the development and operation of the nation's reconnaissance satellite systems. The creation of the NRO was the result of a number of factors.
On May 1, 1960 Francis Gary Powers took off from Peshawar, Pakistan on the U-2 mission designated Operation GRAND SLAM. The flight was planned to take him over the heart of the Soviet Union and terminate at Bodo, Norway. The main target was Plesetsk, which communications intercepts had indicated might be the site of an ICBM facility.1 When the Soviet Union shot down his plane and captured him alive, they also forced President Dwight Eisenhower to halt aerial overflights of Soviet territory.

At that time the U.S. had two ongoing programs to produce satellite vehicles that could photograph Soviet territory. Such vehicles would allow far more frequent coverage than possible with manned aircraft. In addition, they would avoid placing the lives of pilots at risk and eliminate the risks of international incidents resulting from overflights.

The Air Force program, designated SAMOS, sought to develop a number of different satellite systems--including one that would radio its imagery back to earth and another that would return film capsules. The CIA program, CORONA, focused solely on developing a film return satellite.

However, both the CIA and Air Force programs were in trouble. Launch after launch in the CORONA program, eleven in all by May 1, 1960, eight of which carried cameras, had resulted in failure--the only variation was in the cause. Meanwhile, the SAMOS program was also experiencing difficulties, both with regard to hardware and program definition.2

Concerns over SAMOS led President Eisenhower to direct two groups to study both the technical aspects of the program as well as how the resulting system would be employed. The ultimate result was a joint report presented to the President and NSC on August 25, 1960.3

As a result of that meeting Eisenhower approved a first SAMOS launch in September, as well as reorientation of the program, with the development of high-resolution film-return systems being assigned highest priority while the electronic readout system would be pursued as a research project. With regard to SAMOS management, he ordered that the Air Force institute special management arrangements, which would involve a direct line of authority between the SAMOS project office and the Office of the Air Force Secretary, bypassing the Air Staff and any other intermediate layers of bureaucracy.4

Secretary of the Air Force Dudley C. Sharp wasted little time creating the recommended new structure and procedures. On August 31st Sharp signed Secretary of the Air Force Order 115.1, establishing the Office of Missile and Satellite Systems within his own office to help him manage the SAMOS project. With Order 116.1, Sharp created a SAMOS project office at the Los Angeles headquarters of the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division (AFBMD) as a field extension of the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force to carry out development of the satellite.5

The impact of the orders, in practice, was that the director of the SAMOS project would report directly to Under Secretary of the Air Force Joseph V. Charyk, who would manage it in the Secretary's name. In turn, Charyk would report directly to the Secretary of Defense.6

The changes would not stop there. The urgency attached to developing a successful reconnaissance satellite led, ultimately, to the creation of a top secret program and organization to coordinate the entire national reconnaissance effort.

Several of the documents listed below also appear in either of two National Security Archive microfiche collections on U.S. intelligence. The U.S. Intelligence Community: Organization, Operations and Management: 1947-1989 (1990) and U.S. Espionage and Intelligence: Organization, Operations, and Management, 1947-1996 (1997) publish together for the first time recently declassified documents pertaining to the organizational structure, operations and management of the U.S. Intelligence Community over the last fifty years, cross-indexed for maximum accessibility. Together, these two sets reproduce on microfiche over 2,000 organizational histories, memoranda, manuals, regulations, directives, reports, and studies, totaling more than 50,000 pages of documents from the Office of the Director of Central Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, military service intelligence organizations, National Security Council, and other official government agencies and organizations.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB35/