

The KH-11 (aka Keyhole) is dead - gonzo
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/08/ula-delta-iv-h-launch-nrol-65/

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gonzo
From the Wired story this morning:

"Clapper briefly notes some programs the intelligence agencies are closing or
scaling back, as well as those they’re pouring additional funds into. Overhead
imagery captured by spy satellites was slated for reduction, for example,
while SIGINT, the electronic spying that’s been the focus of the Snowden
leaks, got a fresh infusion."

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dnautics
There may not be any more DIV-heavies launching from vandenburg, but the F9 is
scheduled to start from vandenburg next month, and there may be F9-heavies
launching, eventually, as well.

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StringyBob
I guess other than a few targets like watching North Korean nukes, most
general 'war-on-terror' type requirements have scaled back the role of
satellite intelligence in favor of drones.

Interesting reading todays leaks to see the budget of the National
Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial Intelligence Program [1] is
just under the equivalent of one NASA [2] :

[1] [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
srv/special/national/black-...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
srv/special/national/black-budget/)

[2]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA)

Can we swap them for a link to google maps and doubling of the NASA budget :-)

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bediger4000
The NRO and the NGA programs are going to be on a need to know basis, aren't
they? That is, knowledge about what's going on is compartmentalized. This adds
to the cost. I recall reading a reference (which I can't find now) that
claimed a Top Secret program was 20% more costly than an open program. I
remember feeling surprised, because my personal estimate was about double for
anything Secret.

We can double NASA's budget, can NRO and NGA, and still come out ahead
financially.

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ChuckMcM
Bummed I missed it. We can usually see the contrails from Vandenberg launches.
The Delta4 Heavy is something of a beast as I understand it, an engineer that
works for ULA described it once as 5 rockets flying in a very tight formation
:-) Perhaps we'll see some SpaceX use of Vandenberg which would be fun, then
perhaps I'd get enough notice to drive down and watch the launch.

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Gravityloss
Dead? From the article it looks like the launch was successful?

