And so it begins

[peppermintesse]

Hubble funding gets yanked.

Welcome to the second term. Am I surprised? No. Pissed off, but not surprised.

Watch as America continues to turn inward to the point of implosion.

Comments

[dinda.livejournal.com]

Time to look forward, not back. Hubble had to be sacrificed in order to move forward with the new "Exploration" iniative; a new vehicle by 2015, back to the moon by 2020 and onto Mars. Why? b/c "it's about life here on earth." H3 on the moon could provide a clean energy source so that we can finally rid ourselves of fossil fuels. It's byproduct is water not CO2. Onto Mars and beyond? yes, Hubble has given us a glimpse into past and the future. If we're to stop f-ing up this planet so royally we need realize we're just a speck in the greater fold of the universe. It's only by going out to explore that realize how precious what we have at home is.

And there are better technologies no available to us than Hubble. And each step(moon, mars, etc.) out will expand our "sight" into the universe. Remember Hubble was a low-earth orbit set of binoculars. Imagine a series of telescopes from here to Saturn and beyond, each reaching just a bit further and each bringing us new vision.

[shiningmoon.livejournal.com]

You know, I agree with you more than disagree, in that yes, we do need to move forward rather than back, and how I believe that a sense of looking forward and planetary unity is absolutely what we all need to survive. But the big picture suggests that forward is not the direction we're moving in. Cutting funding for the Hubble, an extremely valuable scientific tool regardless of its impending obsolesence, sends a message timed so closely after inauguration.

I may also be reacting in part to reading about the president's vocal support for overturning Roe v. Wade, so we may just have to agree to disagree.