The machinery, ingenuity, and eventual incorporation of some of that technology into civilian life is important and possibly the only way to get funding for new technologies by the (US) government.
The NRO offered two spy satellites (I believe rumored to be Keyhole family satellites) to NASA back in 2011/2012 -- neither have launched yet, but they have the same sized mirror as the Hubble, but with a better focal length giving the satellites a 100 times wider field of view. The now-named Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch by Nov 2026 on a Falcon Heavy.
The machinery, ingenuity, and eventual incorporation of some of that technology into civilian life is important and possibly the only way to get funding for new technologies by the (US) government.
The NRO offered two spy satellites (I believe rumored to be Keyhole family satellites) to NASA back in 2011/2012 -- neither have launched yet, but they have the same sized mirror as the Hubble, but with a better focal length giving the satellites a 100 times wider field of view. The now-named Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch by Nov 2026 on a Falcon Heavy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_National_Reconnaissance_O...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Grace_Roman_Space_Telesc...
The NRO also donated Keyhole satellite mirrors to create the Multiple Mirror Telescope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMT_Observatory#Multiple_Mirro...
NASA was the last to fly the SR-71 as a research platform.
Unfortunately, the military is often what pushes technology forward.