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hlprmnky · 01-17-2004, 09:13 AM

According to a Baltimore Sun article here
the reason that the scheduled servicing of the Hubble has been canceled is that, in order to meet the new Bush mandate that the ISS be completed by 2010, *all* shuttle traffic between now and then has to go to the ISS construction flights.

Another little gem from this article - some $200M in gear ALREADY BUILT for the Hubble will now sit in a warehouse somewhere, since it won't be possible to mount it before the Hubble's scheduled retirement in 2011.

Now, I'm all for manned exploration of Mars. But I think that this new space initiative is just one more example of the current administration coming up with an idea and then mandating an implementation from the hip without bothering to waste time with all those "experts" who "know what they're doing" and "have some legitimate problems with the Plan".

I mean, come *on*. A telescope on the Moon
is every astronomer's dream. But I bet if you polled active professional astronomers today
and asked them, 'What would you rather see, no telescope until 2011 and then both an improved HST (the James Webb, assuming
funding for it still exists) *and* a moonbase telescope, or the HST until 2011 and then the Webb taking over, and no moonbase until some later time?', the weight of public opinion would be strongly against taking the Hubble out of commission now.

Keep in mind, too, that for a moonbase to be useful to astronomers, it has to be on the
dark side of the moon. It is highly likely that the administration would want a base on the
light side, for many reasons, making the theorized 'moonbase telescope' an additional, very expensive and dangerous, project.

01-17-2004, 09:13 AM	#22 (permalink)
hlprmnky Upright Location: MN, USA	According to a Baltimore Sun article here the reason that the scheduled servicing of the Hubble has been canceled is that, in order to meet the new Bush mandate that the ISS be completed by 2010, all shuttle traffic between now and then has to go to the ISS construction flights. Another little gem from this article - some $200M in gear ALREADY BUILT for the Hubble will now sit in a warehouse somewhere, since it won't be possible to mount it before the Hubble's scheduled retirement in 2011. Now, I'm all for manned exploration of Mars. But I think that this new space initiative is just one more example of the current administration coming up with an idea and then mandating an implementation from the hip without bothering to waste time with all those "experts" who "know what they're doing" and "have some legitimate problems with the Plan". I mean, come on. A telescope on the Moon is every astronomer's dream. But I bet if you polled active professional astronomers today and asked them, 'What would you rather see, no telescope until 2011 and then both an improved HST (the James Webb, assuming funding for it still exists) and a moonbase telescope, or the HST until 2011 and then the Webb taking over, and no moonbase until some later time?', the weight of public opinion would be strongly against taking the Hubble out of commission now. Keep in mind, too, that for a moonbase to be useful to astronomers, it has to be on the dark side of the moon. It is highly likely that the administration would want a base on the light side, for many reasons, making the theorized 'moonbase telescope' an additional, very expensive and dangerous, project. Last edited by hlprmnky; 01-18-2004 at 09:21 AM..