Demonstrating yet again their rabid hatred of anything that may actually advance human knowledge and improve the quality of life, Bush goons are planning to kill several space missions, including the historic Voyagers I & II and the Ulysses. Apparently killing the Hubble didn’t sate their bloodlust.
The Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977, and are about to cross the boundary between the solar system and interstellar space. Ulysses is recording data on the end of the current solar sunspot cycle, which, given the sun’s tendency to belch massive flares of comsat-destroying plasma, is sort of important in a “this information could save all our lives” kind of way.
Other critical missions are on the chopping block as well:
According to Nature, NASA officials told seven mission managers (Voyager, Ulysses, Polar, Wind, Geotail, FAST (Fast Auroral SnapshoT) and TRACE (Transition Region and Coronal Explorer)) that there is now no money to keep their projects operating after the current fiscal year ends in October.
Funny how there’s plenty of money for paying journalists to propogandize our own citizens, but none for basic research. Apparently God, He don’t like Him nunna that science stuff.
Note: The title of this post is a reference to Homer*, which you’d already know if you’d been edumacated properly.
* Hellenika, not Springfieldian.
