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I hope this group of astronomers is entirely defunded - zero them out. Start fresh with a group based on satellite observations. The increased access to space

by anon102010 7y ago

I hope this group of astronomers is entirely defunded - zero them out. Start fresh with a group based on satellite observations. The increased access to space that SpaceX represents will be a boon to this new group. If you look at the costs / time to get the TMT up for example it is absolutely ridiculous. For $1B you could launch amazing missions on SpaceX - but there are so many invested interests in these big porkbarrel projects that there is little chance of that.

henrikeh 7y ago
Are you seriously suggesting that _all_ Earth-based astronomy should be stopped? Do you know about the issue involved in making telescopes? In making space telescopes? Look at the James Webb telescope; do you think the cost and difficulty lies in the launch?
- anon102010 7y ago
  Yes - there is a great opportunity for a new type / class of astronomy based in space. That should be the focus going forward. If all these astronomers can do is (usually incorrectly) say that land based astronomy can no longer happen - zero out their funding. Seriously - look into some of the port barrel type endless projects going on - TMT for example. It's ridiculous. Look at ultraviolet, infrared, X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy - the idea that you are going to be doing high quality work on these on land is also silly - huge opportunities are in space for this. For all the talk of satellites obscuring the view - you ALREADY need tons of processing / active adaptions to handle a much much bigger impact - atmospheric distortion! Seriously - the stars "twinkle" because of this. This an entire sky effect. The reality is the land based interests are all the tenured folks at big universities and really depend on these long streams of funding - so I recognize almost no chance. But if there are young astronomers on HN - look to space positively to see what might be possible there! You'll find the forward thinkers may already be there! For those interested in the challenges and opportunities - large fleet observations unobstructed by atmo. For large diameters (also still valuable) cracking some robotic build out (or even astronout build out options) would be great because a ton of complexity is in the unfolding mechanisms for planned large space telescopes. Anything that let you get a high volume of segments up and then assemble those in space would open up the door to HUGE telescopes. The future is going to be much more SpaceX style than SLS style (the next telescopes are planned for SLS - literally pork on pork - should be amazing results but the costs are eye watering).
  - henrikeh 7y ago
    Excuse me, but isn't this a whole lot of hypotheticals and assumptions (we could do this, this and that) while disregarding the concerns of professionals in the field? I still don't see your working: why do you think space telescopes will not have the same problems in management and development as Earth-based?
anon102010 7y ago
To be specific, a project like the TMT started in 2003 or so (17 years ago) and was a follow-up to 3 other projects that had been going on for a while. So we are talking 20 - 25 years of funding to get to one telescope. Very cool, but this telescope is going to be followed by the same "you can't do that" issues that spacex has always faced - but on land (ie, hawaii will fight it, canary islands will fight it etc). Now the opportunity if you talk to astronomers for space based observation is incredible. I think folks in canada have tried to get canada off the TMT pork barrel train (anyone have the details of these efforts?)

henrikeh 7y ago

Are you seriously suggesting that _all_ Earth-based astronomy should be stopped? Do you know about the issue involved in making telescopes? In making space telescopes? Look at the James Webb telescope; do you think the cost and difficulty lies in the launch?

anon102010 7y ago
Yes - there is a great opportunity for a new type / class of astronomy based in space. That should be the focus going forward. If all these astronomers can do is (usually incorrectly) say that land based astronomy can no longer happen - zero out their funding. Seriously - look into some of the port barrel type endless projects going on - TMT for example. It's ridiculous. Look at ultraviolet, infrared, X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy - the idea that you are going to be doing high quality work on these on land is also silly - huge opportunities are in space for this. For all the talk of satellites obscuring the view - you ALREADY need tons of processing / active adaptions to handle a much much bigger impact - atmospheric distortion! Seriously - the stars "twinkle" because of this. This an entire sky effect. The reality is the land based interests are all the tenured folks at big universities and really depend on these long streams of funding - so I recognize almost no chance. But if there are young astronomers on HN - look to space positively to see what might be possible there! You'll find the forward thinkers may already be there! For those interested in the challenges and opportunities - large fleet observations unobstructed by atmo. For large diameters (also still valuable) cracking some robotic build out (or even astronout build out options) would be great because a ton of complexity is in the unfolding mechanisms for planned large space telescopes. Anything that let you get a high volume of segments up and then assemble those in space would open up the door to HUGE telescopes. The future is going to be much more SpaceX style than SLS style (the next telescopes are planned for SLS - literally pork on pork - should be amazing results but the costs are eye watering).
- henrikeh 7y ago
  Excuse me, but isn't this a whole lot of hypotheticals and assumptions (we could do this, this and that) while disregarding the concerns of professionals in the field? I still don't see your working: why do you think space telescopes will not have the same problems in management and development as Earth-based?

anon102010 7y ago

To be specific, a project like the TMT started in 2003 or so (17 years ago) and was a follow-up to 3 other projects that had been going on for a while. So we are talking 20 - 25 years of funding to get to one telescope. Very cool, but this telescope is going to be followed by the same "you can't do that" issues that spacex has always faced - but on land (ie, hawaii will fight it, canary islands will fight it etc). Now the opportunity if you talk to astronomers for space based observation is incredible. I think folks in canada have tried to get canada off the TMT pork barrel train (anyone have the details of these efforts?)