Every time I see one of these, I think, "well why didn't they just observe it constantly ?"
First thing I do as an evil dictator is create a fleet - nay an armada ! - of Hubbles to be used exclusively for time series projects.
http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2017-42
Well, if that's your evil dictator plan, I'd vote for you.
ReplyDeleteWould be better use of funding than blowing shit up. I think you would fail as an evil dictator if you did stuff like this
ReplyDeleteWell... anyone supporting the military-industrial complex would think I was the worst sort of despot. :P
ReplyDeleteRhys Taylor NASA (taxpayer funded) paid for the first one. Can your country pay to build the next one after JWST (NASA built that one, too). Where are the other countries in building their own space telescopes, instead of counting on the US?
ReplyDeleteWhich is often a failure mode as an evil (or not) dictator (or not)...
ReplyDeleteMark Ruhland As an evil dictator funding won't be a problem. I'll just cancel the Olympics or some other useless project. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://astrorhysy.blogspot.cz/2012/08/ten-things-we-could-have-done-instead.html
Though building Hubble is a bit pricey, so I might have to sell a few aircraft carriers. Oh well.
ESA was and is involved with Hubble :
https://www.spacetelescope.org/about/history/esa/
... and the JWST :
http://sci.esa.int/jwst/45728-europe-s-role/
... and has built Gaia all by itself...
http://sci.esa.int/gaia/
... and led the Herschel project...
http://sci.esa.int/herschel/
... also Planck...
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Planck/Telescope
... and many more, but that's probably enough. :D
As the Grand Vizier to Emperor Rhys, I should commission a fleet of robots capable of repairing, upgrading, refuelling and repositioning scientific vehicles on orbit. I'd re-park Hubble in a geosynchronous orbit right away and build another good UV Great Telescope. Infrared and UV seem to be the most scientifically productive regions of the spectrum.
ReplyDeleteRhys Taylor It's OK to cancel the winter Olympics. Not a fan of the ice and snow. BUT, leave my swimsuit Summer Olympics alone!!! Or we might have an "issue". #war lol
ReplyDeleteDan Weese The principal goal of my reign will be to complete the following checklist :
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JWST can stay, but will be renamed the Why The Hell Did We Think Calling It The James Webb Space Telescope Would Be A Good Idea Telescope instead. That'll teach 'em. And whoever it was that decided to pull the plug on GALEX is going to live to regret that.
ReplyDeleteThe NSF, a.k.a. "where science goes to die", are not going to enjoy my administration. I shall do unto them what they did unto Arecibo : continuously shave the funding, hold lengthy bureaucratic meetings producing voluminous yet ambiguous outputs, make unfounded allegations as to their mediocrity, and produce a detailed deconstruction plan on the grounds that, "just in case". Oh, and I shall make them live somewhere nice and remote where only a fraction of the locals speak English and the infrastructure is lacking, just to keep it realistic.
Mark Ruhland Fear not, the increase in space investment shall benefit that too :
ReplyDeleteyoutube.com - Kate Upton Floating In Zero Gravity | Intimates | Sports Illustrated Swimsuit
Rhys Taylor Well, being as I'm just around the corner from where Seymour Cray built his supercomputer beasts, I strongly emphasise the need for appropriate computational and storage devices to match the brobdingnagian scale of these telescopes.
ReplyDeleteDan Weese That reminds me. Once we're done solving world hunger, which will take about twenty minutes for a sufficiently ruthless despot, all interferometry will be banned on the grounds that "it's too bloody complicated". Interferometers shall be replaced with equivalent-sized single dish telescopes constructed in space, thus getting terrifying resolution and sensitivity whilst having trivial data reduction procedures.
ReplyDeleteRhys Taylor Truly, I would abolish NASA, saving only JPL. Set up a rotating exchange of engineering and academic talent with ESA, establish some working committees of astronomers, universities and related domains o' wisdom 'n expertise, I swear, they'd spend less money and get more done than these NASA administrators.
ReplyDeleteRhys Taylor ... and whilst we're in the mood for whinging, why is there only one decent large mirror production facility, under that stadium at Univ of Arizona?
ReplyDeletemirrorlab.arizona.edu - Home | Steward Observatory Mirror Lab
By the time they've produced all the mirrors for GMT, we'll be old and decrepit.
Rhys Taylor An astronomer with a great sense of humor... and a diabolical mind, all rolled into one package.... Can we keep him;-D
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