Griffin has given a green light to rescue Hubble. Although he's being slightly non-committal about it.
I've always been skeptical about the need to continue Hubble. The reservations I have is that the space observatory is a huge distraction for NASA. I also believe some people justify it on false pretenses. Hubble is never going to provide a smoking gun that gets Congress and the world behind space exploration. If we found a livable planet in some other solar system somewhere there is one problem: it's in another solar system.
We can't even get our collective behinds up above 100 km. If we did find a hospitable planet out there ripe for colonization, or maybe for visiting the natives, we could do nothing about it. We can't get to LEO. So how are we supposed to get to another freaking solar system?
I don't have a real problem with Hubble on the overall. I just wish it were financed privately and had nothing to do with NASA. Because all Hubble has become is part of the bureaucracy. All Hubble has become is a media outlet for people to forget about the failures of NASA and to focus on the pretty pictures of places where we will never go.
Tip o' the hat to Curmudgeons.
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