Quote:
Originally posted by Undertoad
I griped about its cost when it was originally going up, but now that the costs have been sunk in, this thing is an incredible gift to mankind. Mankind's understanding of the universe has come an enormous long way in the last decade. Although the mysteries still confound us in very uncomfortable ways, Hubble is a giant leap forward, it's truly amazing.
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It's funny, isn't it? You can never really cost-justify basic research because you never know what you're going to get. But somehow, you usually end up with something worthwhile. (I wonder if we in the US are ever going to regret not funding the Superconducting Supercollider. I guarantee you if Japan or the ESA had orbited Hubble and we had to look at all these pictures coming back, we'd be green as Philadelphia Eagles jerseys. Particle physics isn't nearly as sexy.)