With Star Trek in theaters and the Atlantis up in space fixing the Hubble we hear the ESA is sending more Eye-in-the-Sky hardware up there. What is so important to justify all of this expense?
While astronomical and cosmological knowledge of the universe has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few decades, some details remain beyond the grasp of current space- and ground-based telescopes — but not for long.
Two space telescopes, Herschel and Planck, are set to be launched in tandem by the European Space Agency (ESA) on May 14. They will peer deeper into space and time than any telescope in history.
NASA gets most of the attention when it comes to space telescopes, with the Hubble Space Telescope leading the way (Hubble is however a joint project with ESA). But that could soon change..
2 comments:
Hi Chris,
I don't necessarily think they're "looking for something" anymore. I think it's like you wrote in your 4/29/09 post "There's No Recession In Outer Space."
"...Our goal is to be a company to which you can outsource things. You want to scout a landing site ahead of time, you hire us. You want to get a soil sample before sending your mining machines, you hire us. You need some electrical power supply, we'd have a service."
Greed and the greedy. It's all about the Benjamins, in my opinion. We may look for esoteric meaning but when it's really examined closely, I believe American and world corporations have literary drained all the money they can from society and are always looking for ways to make more.
I think we need to find ways to leave a better legacy for humanity's presence on the Earth, not just cut and run to strip mine space and other planets just because they now have the technology to get there. But just as the European explorers came to the west and New World as merchants, erecting "companies" as exploration out posts, I fear the same is happening to outer space.
Great post!
BTW, what's up with the Quaker Oatmeal commercials? The most banal and healthy of all products has a new logo "Go Humans Go"! OK, as opposed to what? "Go aliens go?" That's too weird for me!
Thanks Chris,
SoapFan
Atlantis mission space walk on Hubble:
"Let there be light," spacewalker John Grunsfeld said as ground controllers checked the power hookups.
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