White House Fixes Budget by Cutting Funding to Fix Hubble Telescope

Source:
www.cnn.com...

Information:
The White House has eliminated funding for a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope from its 2006 budget request and directed NASA to focus solely on de-orbiting the popular spacecraft at the end of its life, according to government and industry sources.
NASA is debating when and how to announce the change of plans.
Sources told Space News that outgoing NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe likely will make the announcement February 7 during the public presentation of the U.S. space agency's 2006 budget request.
That budget request, according to government and industry sources, will not include any money for Hubble servicing but will include some money for a mission to attach a propulsion module to Hubble needed to safely de-orbit the spacecraft with a controlled re-entry into the Pacific Ocean.
NASA would not need to launch such a mission before the end of the decade to guide the massive telescope safely into the ocean.

Continued at: www.cnn.com...


A great way to finance war and cut the defeceit, just f*** science. Right, Mr. Bush?

[edit on 23-1-2005 by Prince_Machiavelli]

Have you heard of Gorelex?

Gorelex.....replaced the Hubble, I know the man who invented both.

Gorelex has a UV image system & its allowing Us to watch new star systems being born/created.

Wonder what happens if we run out of fake money before the end of the decade and it neither gets fixed, or the equipment it needs to come down safely? Can we start taking bets as to where it crashes down?

My first choice would be Washington D.C., but it's in close running with Jerusalem and Mecca....any of the three could be considered the biggest nuisences to the safety of the human race.

I don't see that as being a bad idea...the budget is a very urgent problem, and is contributing to the decline of the US dollar. As the euro continues to rise in power, something drastic needs to be done to get the budget under control.

Originally posted by southern_cross3
I don't see that as being a bad idea...the budget is a very urgent problem, and is contributing to the decline of the US dollar. As the euro continues to rise in power, something drastic needs to be done to get the budget under control.

We should have tried to get the ones responsible for the budget to assume their responsibility by voting them out...................BUSH!

It is old news but China will launch its own "Hubble" telescope by 2005. But the name is quite Chinese: it will be named in honor of the Chinese astronomer Zhang Heng (78-139 A.D), who once said:

"The sky is like a hen's egg, and is as round as a crossbow pellet; the Earth is like the yolk of the egg, lying alone at the centre. The sky is large and the Earth small."

www.rednova.com...

Now, let's forget about Hubble and remember Zhangheng.



[edit on 25-1-2005 by proteinx]

The U.S. is working on the Webb interferometer that works on the farther edge of the infra-red portion of the spectrum, a big leap beyond Hubble.
I don't think the money spent to de-orbit Hubble should be spent. The odds on it hitting anyone on earth when it crashes are... astronomical!

This event does make you wonder. Let's see Bush requested another 80 billion for the war in Iraq but wants to make up the difference by cutting 1 billion in Hubble funding that would go for science. I think we could save alot more by working on a better plan for Iraq. Maybe the US should make a deal with the leading insurgents over there as a major cost savings. The US could agree to a time table for leaving the country with the insurgents agreeing to stop bombings and killings. Savings per year at this latest addition - at least 80 billion a year. We could pay for several brand new Hubbles every year at that savings rate.

They are only cutting the funding because they know hubble is going to crash soon same with most of the gps system.

Hubble will not crash unless NASA forgoes it's routine maintenance which seems to be the case and was decided Jan 14th but they are still looking at options. The primary basis for deorbitting Hubble into the Pacific is due to new space shuttle safety guidelines set out following the Columbia tragedy. Plus there is the James Webb Space Telescope which started production last year as the replacement for Hubble. All is not lost. Just time for an upgrade.

In other words, instead of investing a little to keep the hubble going, they desire to invest ALOT more to put up new ones......and they call it "cutting the budget".....

No one understands the words: "We are broke" anymore, do they?

You guys have to clue me in to where this tree is budding with hundred dollar bills, I need to pick me a bushel of them. Maybe it's genetically engineered and growing in fort knox?

Now that is getting down right pathetic, almost the entire planets population feels that the space scope should be fixed or reused. I say slap it on the space station, but no one has asked me.