Posted on 03/11/2005 8:17:20 AM PST by wingblade
Senator Calls on NASA to Service Hubble
By Brian Berger Space News Staff Writer posted: 10 March 2005 12:10 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON – In a sternly worded letter to acting NASA Administrator Frederick D. Gregory, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said she expects the U.S. space agency to heed the will of the Congress and keep preparations for a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission on track.
Congress, in passing an omnibus spending bill late last year, directed NASA to set aside $291 million of its 2005 budget to spend planning and preparing for a servicing mission to Hubble by 2008. When NASA informed Congress just weeks later that it intended to spend only $175 million of that amount on the Hubble repair effort, some saw the move as an indication that the agency was preparing to abandon plans to service Hubble robotically and rely instead on a space shuttle crew to fix the telescope.
Many Hubble backers, including Mikulski, were shocked and angered when NASA announced in early February that it would not make any effort to service the telescope beyond attaching a propulsion module that can be used to drop Hubble into the ocean once it goes dark.
Mikulski, an influential member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Gregory in her March 2 letter that Congress will consider this year including money in NASA’s 2006 budget for a Hubble servicing mission. In the meantime, she said, she expects NASA to spend every penny of the $291 million included in the 2005 budget for Hubble servicing.
“I expect NASA to carry out Congress’ intent and spend the entire amount appropriated this year so there will be no interruption in the planning, preparation and engineering work that will be necessary for a servicing mission to Hubble,” she wrote. “The funding that I included in the Omnibus Appropriations Act is to ensure that the workforce at Goddard, the Space Telescope Science Institute and their associated contractors remain fully engaged in all aspects of a servicing mission. Any attempt to cancel, terminate or suspend servicing activity would be a violation of the law unless it has the approval of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.”
Government agencies are required to seek permission from congressional appropriators before using money for purposes other than which it was originally approved. Although the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2005 gives NASA “unrestrained transfer authority” to move money between accounts, it also says that the authority should be used primarily to help the agency complete its transition to full-cost accounting.
NASA has not canceled contracts it awarded to Lockheed Martin and Canada’s MDA Robotics last year to help engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., design a robotic servicing mission. NASA officials have said the agency intends to let that work continue at least until a preliminary design review planned this month.
Fine. lets just dump all pure science while we are at it. We never should have funded Lewis and Clark, the Genome Project, the Manhattan Project, Project Apollo (or NASA in general), Scripps Research Institute, The VLA (NRAO), Fermi Labs, Brookhaven, any funding to a university, etc. The rest of the world will pass us by of course, but hey, it's in our best interests right?
Good to see how 'conservatives' claim the benefits of private industry and business except when it comes to actually depending on it. Talk the talk but refuse to walk the walk. Of course human nature and initiative wouldn't have led to exploration, the need for new inventions, etc. without government. Heck, we'd all be sitting around trying to figure out fire if it wasn't for government!! Who said Republicans believed in the average personal initiative and desire for less government intrusion? Oh, I forgot, Republicans are in control so that makes all the waste acceptable. How are Republicans so different on this aspect of government than Democrats again? Apparently not much
We just see things differently. I respect your opinion. Can't say I agree but I understand what you're saying. Not sure my version would work but I think human nature would eventually bring it to the point that it would work.
I understand where you are coming from. I also respect your opinion. :-)
2 - they, NASA, are either chicken, incompetent, or ...
what does NASA know that we don't know.
They were told to fix the insulation on the external tank.
Did they?
Perhaps we should just outsource NASA to the Russians or the Chinese or the Indians.
Remember - Startrek = NASA - "to boldly go where others fear to go"?
Well, now Capt. James Kirk is an old, fat, crooked lawyer.
How appropriate.
LOL!
For all of those who wish to abandon the Hubble,
I wonder how long the waiting list is to use the Hubble?
bingo - 56 = "As we sit on our arses and let the rest of the world pass us by. Our grandkids would curse us and rightfully so."
Thanks. :-)
59 - "Interesting. I would like to check the historical data but for some reason I don't remember initial outlay by the government for the light bulb, the automobile, the airplane, the telephone, etc. Surely any further advances in any of these lines (which BTW would cover transportation, telecommunications, defense uses, etc) could be traced back to the original invention, all of which did not start by 'initial outlay' by the national government. "
Have you considered - Colombus, land grants, farming, post roads, libraries, rail roads, atomic power, interstate highways, airplanes (remember wright brothers were govt contractors).et al.
And that's just off the top of my head, I am sure if you think, you can find others - like rural electrification, crop rotation, contour plowing, air bags, etc.
The list evaporates to zero if you tell them that the servicing mission costs will come out of the astronomy portion of the NASA budget.
I've heard from some nerdy friend that talk is about to put a new telescope out there. Although the Hubble works, they've learned a lot about it; lotsa things NOT to do.
Evidently, the scientific community isn't unified on this matter. Maybe they just want a new contract for a new contraption? Hey, a contraption contract!
And you know this how?
71 - "For all of those who wish to abandon the Hubble, I wonder how long the waiting list is to use the Hubble?
The list evaporates to zero if you tell them that the servicing mission costs will come out of the astronomy portion of the NASA budget."
Somehow, I doubt your figures.
RadioAstronomer?
Sorry. Your nerdly friends really don't have a clue.
I think he is full of BS.
....'K!
Sorry if I came across short. Sigh. Read the whole thread. You will see where I am coming from. I have worked in the US space program and on radio astronomy projects for more than 25 years now.
Again sorry for being short. Its been a long week. :-(
But assuming for a moment that I have no basis for such a belief, are you telling me the astronomical community is willing to absorb the costs of a Shuttle Hubble servicing mission?
The control complex for the Hubble is located in Maryland. Mikulski just wants to keep the dollars flowing into her constituancy. If it were in Texas she'd probaly want it cancelled as a waste of money.
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