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2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA

Two spy telescopes gifted to NASA; one reshaped space science.

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One of these systems became the basis for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which launched on August 30, 2026.[1][2] The telescopes were built for a reconnaissance satellite program that was canceled in 2005, and their main mirrors are 2.4 meters across, the same size as the mirror on the Hubble Space Telescope.[3][4]

Quick Facts

Donor
National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
Recipient
NASA
Year of donation
2012
Number of telescopes
2

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

The NRO revealed the existence of the two telescopes to NASA in January 2011, and NASA accepted the offer in August 2011.[5] The telescopes are new and unused, but all charge-coupled devices and electronics have been removed.[6] An unnamed analyst stated the instruments may be part of the KH-11 Kennen satellite line but have "state-of-the-art optics"[6] The NRO telescope design has a 2.4-meter primary mirror the same size as Hubble's, but with a much wider field of view.[7][8]

NASA currently has no plans or funding for the second telescope, and the NRO asked NASA to return it in 2026.[9][10] The hardware was built in the late 1990s and early 2000s for the NRO's Future Imagery Architecture program, which was terminated.[5][11][4]

What the cited sources add

NASA's astrophysics division director Paul Hertz said in 2012, "We don't ever anticipate being rich enough to use both of them"[11] The telescopes were built by ITT Exelis and stored at their Rochester facilities.[4]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "NASA Introduces New, Wider Set of Eyes on the Universe", 2016-02-18 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Hello, World! NASA Shares New Home for Roman Space Telescope Updates", NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2026-06-03; "Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope", NASA, August 30, 2026; Dickinson, "NASA Launches Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope", Sky & Telescope, August 30, 2026 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wall, "NASA Mulls Missions for Donated Spy Satellite Telescopes", Space, 2013-05-03 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Ferster, Warren, "Donated Space Telescopes are Remnants of Failed NRO Program", SpaceNews, 2012-06-08. facts only, no text reused. spacenews.com
  5. Wikipedia, "2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ferster, Warren, "Donated Space Telescopes are Remnants of Failed NRO Program", SpaceNews, 2012-06-08 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Achenbach, Joel, "NASA gets two military spy telescopes for astronomy", The Washington Post National, June 4, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Boyle, Rebecca, "NASA Adopts Two Spare Spy Telescopes, Each Maybe More Powerful than Hubble", Popular Science, June 5, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Clark, Stephen, "NASA has a mission for grounded spy telescopes", Spaceflight Now, June 4, 2012; Boyle, Rebecca, "NASA Adopts Two Spare Spy Telescopes, Each Maybe More Powerful than Hubble", Popular Science, June 5, 2012; Cowen, Ron, "Fresh bid to see exo-Earths", Nature, January 2013, p. 464–465 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "NASA Awards Optical Telescope Assembly for Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope Mission", NASA, November 30, 2018; Clark, Stephen, "NASA has a mission for grounded spy telescopes", Spaceflight Now, June 4, 2012; "New Telescope Meeting", September 2012; Foust, Jeff, "The future of space telescopes beyond JWST", The Space Review, February 2013; Leone, "NASA Soon To Judge Spy Telescope's Suitability for JWST Follow-On", Space News, 2013-05-29 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chang, "How a Canceled Spy Satellite Became NASA's New Window Into the Universe", August 29, 2026 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Potter, Ned, "NASA Gets 2 Unused Space Telescopes From Spy Agency", ABC Science Blog and News Posts, June 4, 2012. facts only, no text reused. abcnews.go.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article 2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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