Yahoo! News - U.S. to Cut Funds to Fix Hubble Telescope-Source
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration plans to propose cuts in funds to fix the aging Hubble Space Telescope, a U.S. official said on Saturday, as the head of the telescope project said he hoped Congress would approve money for repairs.

The 14-year-old orbiting observatory has produced path-breaking science and created a popular appetite for its spectacular images of the cosmos. It is due for a servicing mission to replace its batteries and the gyroscopes that keep it steady, and to upgrade some of its equipment.

Reports on the Web site www.Space.com and in The Washington Post said the Bush administration plans to scrap any Hubble repair mission and eliminate those funds from the proposed budget for fiscal 2006. A U.S. official confirmed those reports.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the U.S. official told Reuters the estimated cost of a robotic repair was $2 billion and one feasibility study gave it an 80 percent chance of failure.

"Hubble is in year 14 of a planned 15-year mission," the official said. "Trying to send a robotic mission to extend that time period would be a $2 billion gamble with taxpayer dollars where the odds are 80-20 that it would fail."

No mention here of the telescope that is supposed to replace Hubble in 2010(?). Why not move that project up? Probably because George wants to go to Mars. Stay tuned.