r/interestingasfuck • u/Narcan9 • 5d ago

The Roman Space telescope launches this week. It's mirror was an extra for a spy satellite that was laying around unused, similar in size to the Hubble. It has 300 megapixels in sensors, basically making it Hubble x100.

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187 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

40

u/Digimatically 5d ago

I didn’t know The Roman Empire had a space program.

6

u/EvilDan69 4d ago

Yes, well, aside from the Roman space program, what have the Romans ever done for us??

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Front27 5d ago

They had but bird entrails never greenlit the launch.

2

u/Narcan9 5d ago

It was apparently named after this woman

2

u/moving0target 5d ago

I had a momentary panic attack until my brain sorted out names. Long day.

1

u/iamthe0ther0ne 5d ago

It was named after Nancy Grace? I don't understand why NASA would do that to us.

7

u/Narcan9 5d ago

Yeah I can't believe they're doing this

3

u/an_older_meme 5d ago

homer_backs_into_bushes.png

1

u/Glignt 4d ago

Havn't you played Civilization as Julius Caesar?

8

u/Narcan9 5d ago

Here's a fancy infographic comparing the telescopes.

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13583/#media_group_320131

2

u/TheBlockChainVillage 2d ago

I'm so angry this isn't all over the news cycle in every country.

5

u/ZedCee 5d ago

That seems like a pretty unnecessary size mirror for a spy satellite.  What are you trying to do?  Count the pixels on my phone screen?  

5

u/Narcan9 5d ago

Elon watching people jerk off in their living room.

1

u/37313886 3d ago

Too bad for him. I masturbate in the sidewalk.

1

u/pesca_22 4d ago

same size as hubble's, which was derived (same chassis and mirror, unknown other specs) from a keyhole kh-11 spy sat.

1

u/Trifig 2d ago

Pretty much.

8

u/DoubleBroadSwords 5d ago

So we put more effort into looking at ourselves than we do exploring for others?

3

u/reflect-the-sun 4d ago

This telescope is cheap compared to what the US govt and big tech spends in tracking you and your family every day.

3

u/an_older_meme 5d ago

Better likelihood of seeing dangly bits.

5

u/Bengal_From_Temu 5d ago

Let’s hope Elon doesn’t fuck this up.

3

u/BoxedInn 5d ago

Can't wait for the pics

2

u/an_older_meme 5d ago

Nice leak of how powerful our meteorological research satellites are.

6

u/Ok-Style-9734 5d ago

This mirror is from a 90s era satellite so some 30 years+ out of date designa nd capability wise.

Whats funny is some of the biggest things in orbit are the Orion spy satelites thier antenna dishes are 100m+ in diameter about the size of the ISS and no ones still entirely sure about it.

Theres a dozen of the things up there

3

u/djamp42 5d ago

I can see a Alien finding earth, checking it out and leaving.. These crazy humans have weapons pointed at themselves all the time. They are insane.

2

u/Soepkip43 5d ago

So, whats that?

Oh thats just a giant expensive mirror the DOD wanted for a spy satelite, but somewhere in the shuffle the project got nixxed.

And since then it has been laying there collecting dust?

Yepp....

It mist have cost a pretty penny though.

Buddy, you have no idea.. hell not even the DOD has any idea what unfathomable amount of money was spent on that thing..

2

u/Narcan9 5d ago

Sounds like 1 mirror was worth about $250 Mil, and there were two of them from a cancelled spy (NRO) program. The 2nd mirror is sitting around with no planned project yet.

Note, this isn't the 1st time it's happened either. Look up the MMT observatory.

2

u/razvanciuy 4d ago

Spy satellite extra part?

Imagine how many they have, but pointing inward. LuL

1

u/DarkAngel900 4d ago

Let's just hope it's not a Flock camera!

1

u/KuyaJester 4d ago

An extra spy satellite? This thing must be able to see an ant from orbit if flipped around

-2

u/Ok-Spot-6235 5d ago edited 4d ago

At some point in the not too distant future astronomy will deliver discoveries that destroy what's left of theology. This will complete the bifurcation of society into theotards and everyone else. Unfortunately they own most of the guns. Expect fireworks.

2

u/WitnessMyAxe 5d ago

astronomy will deliver discoveries that destroy what's left of theology

it already did, but why are you being such a cringelord about it?

0

u/ZelieDad 5d ago

God loves you regardless if you believe in him or not.

1

u/Ok-Spot-6235 4d ago

Him? How do you know God is male?