03-18-2017, 07:35 PM
The recent TMT contested case hearing really made this clear - the opponents of the TMT and astronomy in general tend to resort to "alternative facts" about the observatories, and often, downright lies. Gypsy is no exception.
Interestingly, the planning for the Hubble Space Telescope began back in the mid-60s, roughly 25 years before it was launched, and they even knew the location of the telescope back then (in fact, you can trace the idea of the HST back into the 1940s). The same for the proposed and currently under-construction extremely large telescopes - those plans go back to the 80s and 90s, but no locations were planned and at that point the technology didn't exist to build them, but you need to start early with the concept otherwise they won't happen.
And since the TMT is largely a US project, the "foreign investing backers" comment is simply insulting, especially as Gypsy has no problem sending his kids to a US mainland university - which gets foreign funding.
Interestingly, the planning for the Hubble Space Telescope began back in the mid-60s, roughly 25 years before it was launched, and they even knew the location of the telescope back then (in fact, you can trace the idea of the HST back into the 1940s). The same for the proposed and currently under-construction extremely large telescopes - those plans go back to the 80s and 90s, but no locations were planned and at that point the technology didn't exist to build them, but you need to start early with the concept otherwise they won't happen.
And since the TMT is largely a US project, the "foreign investing backers" comment is simply insulting, especially as Gypsy has no problem sending his kids to a US mainland university - which gets foreign funding.