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I'm neither an astronomer nor an imaging expert, but I've read that ground-based telescopes use "lucky imaging" plus deformable mirrors to work around atmospheric distortion. Maybe something analogous works in the reverse direction.

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For deformable mirrors they shine a control beam into the sky. A spy satellite would have to shine it downwards.

Can you use a known object which is illuminated by the sun?

Given that people have called this 'wavefront based correction' I would guess you need light source where all photons are 'in phase' like a laser. The sun is not such a source.

However, I do not know near enough about physics to say the above with any degree of confidence.

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