An interesting point, but that particular mission is a power point mission - on paper only with no NASA funding for it. NASA did have congressionally approved funding for an HST servicing mission, and it was promised to the astrophysics community, even after Columbia. However that funding seems to have disappeared into the "Exploration Mission" which has no tangibles as of yet and has not been approved by Congress. The funding for the HST servicing mission has been lost to that organizational unit and will not come back into the "Science Mission" at NASA for the new telescope you cite.
The scientific community has an organized, Peer Reviewed process for prioritizing science and missions. This process has worked effectively for quite some time and enables NASA to support the best science for the buck. The scientific community now is dismayed that NASA is planning science and technology initiatives by top-down presidential mandate rather than the tried and true, organized procedures that the physical science community uses to balance science objectives, serving the public interest and balancing the budget.
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An interesting point, but that particular mission is a power point mission - on paper only with no NASA funding for it. NASA did have congressionally approved funding for an HST servicing mission, and it was promised to the astrophysics community, even after Columbia. However that funding seems to have disappeared into the "Exploration Mission" which has no tangibles as of yet and has not been approved by Congress. The funding for the HST servicing mission has been lost to that organizational unit and will not come back into the "Science Mission" at NASA for the new telescope you cite.
The scientific community has an organized, Peer Reviewed process for prioritizing science and missions. This process has worked effectively for quite some time and enables NASA to support the best science for the buck. The scientific community now is dismayed that NASA is planning science and technology initiatives by top-down presidential mandate rather than the tried and true, organized procedures that the physical science community uses to balance science objectives, serving the public interest and balancing the budget.