Cav's Place

Ten years ago, I was wondering if the Hubble Space Telescope would still be operational in five more years, for its 30th anniversary, so it’s a pleasant surprise to see it still “alive” even today, on its 35th. And at least it seems that even the current dreadful budget proposals would maintain normal operations for it and Webb… But they’d bafflingly pull the plug on Roman, which would be the next one in the “family”. And let’s not even get to the planned Habitable Worlds Observatory, which would be supposed to follow in a future that’s ever less likely to predict, probably in the early 2040s, and rely on the technology and findings of Roman.
Not that such dismantling of any state operations, or more exactly of the useful ones in particular, isn’t exactly in line with that terrible and terrifying administration’s general policies, or with those dealing with science or even space exploration in particular, but when Roman is basically already built and ready to launch, ahead of schedule and, if so, apparently for less than the planned cost, scrapping it would mean throwing away something you just built and poured billions into just before it’d actually be put to use, just before all of that effort and all of those expenses would yield results. I’m not going to ask whether they’re really that malicious or stupid, because the answer at least for the first part is very obviously yes, but it just beggars belief.
But, just like ten years ago, this is basically just a brief post, a very small way to honor Hubble and all those who imagined, designed, constructed, maintained and made, and continue to make, proper use of it, to celebrate and give thanks to these efforts that inspired and popularized science and space exploration, added so much to our knowledge and understanding of the universe while at the same time revealing just how much more we still have to learn, reminded us how small and fragile the only home we’ve ever known is and how important it is to treasure and care for it, and also inspired us to keep looking up, no matter how much we keep stumbling…