Nancy Atkinson: DARPA's New Spy Satellite!

"It sees you when you're sleeping and knows when you're awake" could be the new theme song for a new satellite being developed by DARPA. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's latest proof-of-concept project is called the "Membrane Optical Imager for Real-Time Exploitation (MOIRE) and would provide real-time images and video of any place on earth at any time, a capability that, so far, only exists in the realm of movies and science fiction. The details of this huge eye-in-the-sky look like something right out of science fiction, and it would be interesting to determine if it could have applications for astronomy as well. DARPA says the program aims to demonstrate the ability to manu -facture large membranes and large structures to hold the optics flat, and also to demonstrate the secondary optical elements needed to turn a diffraction-based optic into a wide bandwidth imaging device. The MOIRE program began in March 2010, and is now in the first phase of development, where DARPA is testing the concept's viability. Phase 2 would entail system design, with Ball Aerospace doing the design and building to test a 16-foot (5m) telescope for flight tests in orbit.