Slashdot Mirror
Interstellar Pioneers Facing Termination
marcel-jan.nl writes "There are plans to terminate the interstellar missions Voyager 1 and 2 and the solar mission Ulysses in October to save money. The Voyagers alone need $4.2 million a year for daily operation and data analysis. Scientist say this cut is "an extremely foolish thing to do": the Voyagers are approaching the edge of the Solar System and Ulysses is observing the Sun coming to the end of a 22-year magnetic cycle."
While killing foreigners is immensely popular to watch on the evening news and deserving of many billions of dollars, science doesn't kill anybody, theres no explosions and so is very uninteresting to your average joe sixpack.
Face it, the Bush administration does not understand science or space exporation. The following is an actual quote from George Bush while he was govenor of Texas:
"Mars is essentially in the same orbit...Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe."
...Governor George W. Bush, 8/11/94
It's not just Bush. It's the whole whacky group of zealots that call themselves fundamentalist christians. Bush hasn't done that much for them but shitcanning space programs is doing those freaks a big favor. They did not want the Hubble to go up and is a fact that many people seem to have forgotten. The Hubble is not finished yet. And as for any project that goes looking for answers out in space, well those are just the ones the freaks don't like. They say things like "we have no business going out and peering back into time to witness creation" But they're okay with little episodes within our solar system. Does everyone understand now? Spread the word, this is not a joke.
They really are a sick bunch. And the shrub owes them some favors. Plus Bush probably thinks the moon visits were faked.
http://tinyurl.com/3t236