Thread

1. Almondsetat · 1790809198 · focus · HN ↗

   The incredible and futuristic technologies the US managed to deploy decades before the competition reminds me of the story of how the NRO gifted NASA a couple of their old decommissioned satellites in 2012 and they turned out to be basically upgraded Hubble telescopes pointed at earth. The US from the 90s to the 2000s had multiple Hubble-level telescopes just for spying while NASA was fighting for scraps to study the entire cosmos.

   1. corvad · 1790809683 · focus · HN ↗

      I mean NASA's budget was/is minuscule in comparison to defense spending so I am not surprised.

      1. deepsun · 1790810217 · focus · HN ↗

         How? NASA budget is around 20-30bn in recent years, same scale as US Space Force department budget (26bn in recent years, 40bn in 2026). Comparable, but not minuscule.

         1. whatever1 · 1790810535 · focus · HN ↗

            Why is the space force budget relevant? The US has had spy satellites decades before the clown made the space force for his family and friends to feast.

            1. dmix · 1790810733 · focus · HN ↗

               From google:

               > NASA's total enacted budget for fiscal year 1996 was approximately $13.9 billion

               > a 1996 bipartisan commission report noted that the NRO possessed "by far the largest budget of any intelligence agency," and contemporary experts track the broader military space budget at roughly $10 billion to $11 billion annually for the NRO alone

               So pretty similar budgets. The NRO imaging lens used in Nancy Grace was manufactured in 1999 but planning started in 1996.

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