Boehlert
	PHOTO BY SUSAN MORRISSEY

"There is disagreement about how and whether to save Hubble," said committee Chairman Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.). "That disagreement will come to a head in the coming weeks once the proposed federal budget for fiscal 2006 is released--regardless of whether it actually zeros out [funding for] the Hubble mission, as has been rumored."

To help the committee prepare for that debate, the experts discussed the benefits, risks, and costs of several options for the Hubble, including a mission to safely remove the telescope from orbit, a shuttle mission to service the telescope, a robotic mission to service the telescope, and the launch of a new telescope to replace Hubble.

The panel generally supported a servicing mission, expected to cost in excess of $1 billion. But when faced with the question of whether they would cut funding for other programs to finance it, the panelists' support waned.

Panelist Louis J. Lanzerotti, a physics professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology and chair of the National Academies committee that published a report last year in support of a shuttle mission to save Hubble (C&EN, Dec. 13, 2004, page 22), noted that he would not be in favor of the costs for a servicing mission coming out of other science programs. Panelist Joseph H. Taylor, physics professor at Princeton University, also said he would not support a servicing mission if it meant major delays in other programs.