NASA Soon To Judge Spy Hardware's Suitability for Astronomy Mission

摘要

NASA will soon decide whether it is worth using one of the two Hubble-sized space telescopes it got from the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office last year for a dark-energy survey mission the National Academy of Sciences recommended as a follow-on to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was briefed May 30 on a report that concluded the partially completed spy telescopes with 2.4-meter primary mirrors - the same diameter as Hubble's - offer a "feasible and affordable" way for NASA to complete the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) - a mission designed to fulfill science objectives that in 2010 the National Academy of Sciences said were second only to those being tackled by JWST.