Steven James Forsberg wrote:
Forgive me for being cynical, but now we know why President Bush
gave a big speech about going to Mars (in the out years, of course).
As per CNN, it has just been announced that the Hubble Space Telescope
will not be serviced again, meaning that it will go out of service in
2007 or possibly 2008. NASA stated that with the plan to shut down ...
Your cynicism is well-intentioned but definitely not ready for USENET.
Step aside son and let me handle this.
1) No room in the New Normal NASA-DOD synergy for sciencey peace toys
such as Hubble. Besides, it's pointed in the wrong direction for our tastes.
2) Pretty pictures, sure. But I got screen savers that can do better
than that, Prof.
3) You scientists keep talking about Hubble-imaged objects that are
millions of light years away from us. Isn't that an implicit endorsement
of evolution? What are you people, godless athiests? Not on our tax dollars!
4) Why do you hate Amerimars so much?
To be fair (just this once), retiring Hubble early has been brought up
before. I think even in this newsgroup. Its dependence on the Shuttle
has a lot to do with it.
... shuttle operations, there is "just not room" for a mission to service
Hubble, which would allow it to continue service (and possibly receive
upgrades) for several more years. NASA states that at WH direction the
'limited' remaining shuttle flights will be prioritized for ISS and
meeting "international commitments".
Too bad, because there seemed to be room for a few UTTERLY CRUCIAL,
DESPERATELY VITAL missions before, such as that last Columbia flight.
Yep, that one sure was worth seven lives.
This would appear to mean they are serious about the shuttle being
shut down in 2010. With a firm shut-down date, remaining launches are
becoming scarce items and fingers are crossed that the shuttle will fly
successfully again as scheduled. Any delays now in returning the shuttle
to service will have major compounding effects (unless the shut down date
were slipped back).
Clearly it is a tight situation. When a project as public and
lauded (by commoners and scientists)as Hubble is sent down the tubes...
There is a newer telescope (the "Webb" telescope) tentatively scheduled to
be launched in 2011, but that will leave several years at best gap in
that type of outer space astronomy. I'm not certain how firm or how far
along the "Webb" is either.
What? another sciencey peace toy? Oh yeah, *that*'ll go on as scheduled.
Yes, there is a continuing promise of great projects -- in the out
years. But a bird in the hand... It really seems to me that the great
Mars push is not so much a serious plan/effort as it was an attempt to
forestall criticism (deserved or not) for pulling the plug on the shuttle and
letting major ongoing projects like Hubble go down in the process.
Ja, you betcha. This is classic Bush "Death by Maņana" strategery(TM).
Delay innovation that would disrupt the status quo by dangling a more
promising but more distant alternative in its place.
For another example see Bush's Freedom Cooperative Automotive Research
(CAR) initiative, which replaced research into efficient
gasoline-electric hybrid engines with studies on the hydrogen fuel cell
ultra cars of the future-uture-chur-rrrr. Always maņana. In the
meantime, fill'er up! Ka-ching!
(Those darn Japanese! They're making hybrids anyway! The nerve of them!)
I want this administration to prove me wrong. I want to have people go
back and google this post and tell me what a fscking party-pooper I was!
But unlike what those investment commercials on radio say, I go by past
performance as an indicator of future results when it comes to the Bush
crowd. And I see no reason to think they will actually put the US
government space program on the road they describe in this initiative.
Heck, I don't even think they believe it.
Corry
--
It Came From C. L. Smith's Unclaimed Mysteries.
http://www.unclaimedmysteries.net