[Harpo Speaks]

I remember for years, the leaders of NASA said “It can’t be done...it can’t be done...to risky...too much money...it can’t be done.”

Then, NASA gets a new head guy, and suddenly it can be done.

I think that what made them change was that they bowed to the enormous pressure from the public. The Hubble is the greatest visible on-going success story that NASA has had since the launch of the shuttle. They were going to mothball the most popular — and perhaps the most valuable — project associated with the program.

There would have been no space telescope until the uncertain launch of the next one. And, although new-technology land-based telescopes may someday achieve the same quality as a space telescope, they aren’t there yet. So there would have been nothing to fill the void.

I’m glad the Hubble is being repaired — and broadcasting the repair makes great TV.

[kingu]

Visually, we’re exceeding the quality of images from Hubble right now. Even with these modifications, ground based observations will likely exceed the Hubble before the launch of the next telescope. You have only what datastream you program in to capture and transmit from space, receive and decode. Whereas traditional land observations tend to have a much broader recording depth, in multiple mediums, with the ability to change observation devices on whim. So it’ll likely always be that way until we have a simple, repeatable method to go up into space.

And the only way we’ll get that is if we build hundreds of vehicles, not a scant handful. If you don’t mass produce it, it’s going to become outdated very quickly. And the number of missions you can run is extremely limited.

[RetSignman]

[“It can’t be done...it can’t be done...to risky...too much money...it can’t be done.”]

...and then Rudy rode in to the rescue.