Bored and don't know what to do for a party?
Intestine Rally Championships
Line up a bunch of contestants
Issue each with a Nanobot, laxetive and a bucket. Tune it into the big screen and your away.
The Hubble is a very good bit of hardware that should not be wasted. However maintaining it in it's current operations is impractical.
Slap an Ion drive on the back of it and send off on a slow drive to lunar orbit.
As nasa is planning on going back to the moon, technologies for landing sizeable payloads will have been developed by the time the hubble is there.
And hey presto there you have your first telescope for a land based lunar observitory. Use the houseing, mirror (which could be repaired easliy once on the ground), lenses and store anything left over to be recycled for something else later on.
If things cost so much to get into space, find another use for it when it's primary function has ended.
Slashdot Mirror
Bored and don't know what to do for a party? Intestine Rally Championships Line up a bunch of contestants Issue each with a Nanobot, laxetive and a bucket. Tune it into the big screen and your away.
The Hubble is a very good bit of hardware that should not be wasted. However maintaining it in it's current operations is impractical. Slap an Ion drive on the back of it and send off on a slow drive to lunar orbit. As nasa is planning on going back to the moon, technologies for landing sizeable payloads will have been developed by the time the hubble is there. And hey presto there you have your first telescope for a land based lunar observitory. Use the houseing, mirror (which could be repaired easliy once on the ground), lenses and store anything left over to be recycled for something else later on. If things cost so much to get into space, find another use for it when it's primary function has ended.