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A comment on Photos of a KH-12 Kennan Keyhole Secret Military Spy Satellite (2013). Parent comment

Re:Photos of a KH-12 Kennan Keyhole Secret Military Spy Sate... by mturmon on Tuesday December 14, 2021 @05:29PM (#29559000)
Yes, the spy satellites were first by a long shot. The KH-11 (2.4m mirror, CCD focal plane) was first launched in 1976. Hubble (2.4m mirror, CCD focal plane) was launched in 1990.

The shared mirror size is not a coincidence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_KENNEN#Size_and_mass

The two also share a multi-billion dollar budget.

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Re:Photos of a KH-12 Kennan Keyhole Secret Military Spy Sate... by 6nf on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @02:18AM (#29562975)
The mirror size is largely limited by the size of the vehicle launching the satellite into space, if I recall correctly.
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Re:Photos of a KH-12 Kennan Keyhole Secret Military Spy Sate... by ArnoVW on Tuesday December 21, 2021 @03:32PM (#29641760)
Which in turn is based on the size of a equine derriere, as the story goes.

https://www.precisioncontent.com/blog/on-rocket-ships-and-ho...

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