Western Slope Skies - A Powerful New Space Telescope

Suppose you were an astronomer and someone offered you, at no cost, two giant mirrors for telescopes in space, each valued at more than 250 million dollars. Sound too good to be true? It actually happened at NASA. In January 2011, the National Reconnaissance Office, a U.S. spy agency, offered NASA two, surplus 94-inch diameter telescope mirrors with related hardware. At that time, NASA was planning a space telescope with a 52 inch- diameter main mirror called WFIRST, an acronym that stood for Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope. A larger mirror exactly matching NASA’s needs would greatly enhance the scientific return from such a telescope. So, in 2012 NASA revised the plan to use one of these 94-inch diameter mirrors. After more than a decade of development, this telescope was launched into space on August 30, 2026.