The hubbub over Hubble

The BDS is sorry to report the universe isn't made of beer. That we know. But we don't know much more than that about the Big Deep; what mysteries it holds, what secrets it hides, how it came to pass. For the same reason we urge our loving public to tour their local microbrewery to see where happiness comes from, we're strong supporters of further space exploration to see where life comes from. That's why we began cussing like drunk truck drivers at the recent White House decision to cut funding for the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Bush Administration wants to drop the single greatest telescope ever invented in the history of invented-ness into the ocean. In other words, President Bush, the man who claims to see the future of humankind in space, is about to stick a hot poker in our only truly effective eye to the very universe he wants to explore.

Makes total sense.

In case you've been inside a green Mickey's Big Mouth bottle for the past 15 years, Space Shuttle mission STS-31 placed this space-based observatory 375 miles above Wichita's own Oasis Lounge in low-Earth orbit. Free from the O's second-hand smoke and other pollutants, it took pictures of your cosmos few even dreamed about. And now the Beltway Boys wanna kill the photographer.

According to various sources, servicing the Hubble either by a robotic or shuttle-based option would cost in excess of $1 billion. "Too much", this myopic administration whined. A portion of NASA's 2006 budget would be allocated to using a propulsion module coupled to Hubble for its safe but destructive deorbit. However, the geeks over at Goddard (the Space Flight Center, not the "Gerrard's" one) are devising ways to service Hubble without having to hold bake sales and scrounge for loose change in the couch. If they fail in their noble effort, we won't see images like this much longer.









The only image Hubble has yet to capture? Bush dropping the ball on decades worth of exploration. But sadly, it appears we'll all see that photo sometime next year.