The Vision Thing

> Here are some excerpts from a blog that I enjoyed reading this
> afternoon.
>
> http://www.functionalambivalent.blogspot.com/
>
> "Now that we've all bought into the Mars trip, it's time to start
> killing the successful, cost-effective space programs. First on the
> chopping block: The Hubble Space Telescope, which will be allowed to
> expire in orbit so that all future manned space missions can, per
> the President's order, focus on sending men to Mars."

I'll respond to your other post later, but I just wanted to point out
that the abandonment of Hubble has been almost inevitable ever since
the CAIB report came out. The report recommended that future shuttle
missions include visual inspection of the TPS, which is currently only
possible on station missions. Throw in the fact that the replacement
for Hubble is under development, and the justification for a repair
mission begins to appear tenuous. I think the cost benefit analysis
works out in favor of a mission to keep Hubble going, but I have a
basic science bias, so I can see how reasonable people can disagree (I
also think that risk to astronaut lives is acceptable ata level far
higher than NASA does). A Hubble repair mission would require either
going against the CAIB recommendations or developing a TPS inspection
device which is hard to justify if the shuttle is going to be retired
soon anyway.

......Andrew