* Astronomy

About those telescopes...

If NASA knew all along that backup space telescopes were available, why haven't they been put to use before now - in 1993, for instance, when the flawed mirror threatened the entire Hubble program with failure? And if NASA didn't know about the other Hubbles, is there a lack of communication or an excess of secrecy that could reduce the payoff and increase the expense of big scientific projects?
Hubble, as configured for NASA, might not be an effective tool for gathering images of potential military interest on Earth. But it's telling that decades ago, the NRO concluded that it had capabilities superior to those offered by a Hubble-class telescope, even after being modified for use as a spy satellite. It's also telling that the NRO was able to order two Hubbles and store them in a warehouse, without so much as a raised eyebrow from congressional budget hawks. It makes one wonder that the agency is capable of now, and what it costs.
Source

Spy satellites to fly in packs
How can you keep a single subsystem failure from turning a billion-dollar spy satellite into orbiting space junk? Break it into a cluster of modules, each of which can easily be replaced, suggests the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Read more

Latest spy satellite plan has few details, many skeptics
The Obama administration has not provided sufficient detail to justify its ambitious plan to buy and launch spy satellites, raising concerns that billions of taxpayer dollars could be put at risk with no guarantee of success, according to lawmakers, sources and government reports.
Some critics say more than $10 billion could be put at unnecessary risk over the next decade when smaller, less expensive satellites, unmanned drones and other aerial assets could be just as effective, if not more so.

Read more

The national intelligence director and defence secretary are asking the Obama administration to approve a new top-secret U.S. spy satellite program that could cost more than $10 billion, according to government, military and industry officials.
The program calls for building two sophisticated satellites equal to or better than the huge, high-resolution secret satellites now in orbit. At the same time, the government would also commit to spend enough money on commercial satellite imagery sufficient to pay for the construction and launch of two new commercial satellites.

Read more