Jay Manfold has an interesting series of posts about the Hubble Space Telescope — go here first, and scroll up. He points out some intriguing alternatives and future policy ideas that should make situations like the current one avoidable (such as, if the space-based device is unmanned itself, then make it serviceable by robot).
I do wonder a bit if Jay’s being overly optimistic about the parts of his argument that revolve around the government being willing to declassify stuff. I don’t think we should underestimate the attitude of any government — even ours — about guarding its secrets, even when the parties concerned are long dead. Just look at all the Kennedy assassination stuff that’s still under lock-and-key after 40-plus years, and the snail’s pace at which the Nixon tapes become public. Governmental secrecy is a huge nut to crack.
