One of the most challenging things about working at a newspaper was the gloomy predictions of its future. If you're going to take a group of cynics, put them in a room and let them dwell on the contracting print industry, make sure you bring plenty of alcohol.
Somehow, I have to imagine the mood among NASA's scientists is plunging, too. They're two different industries facing hardships for two different reasons, but the news continues to be bleak for both.
Scientific American caught my eye with an article about the increasingly tenuous future of the James Webb Space Telescope, the proposed successor to the Hubble. I have an interest in space exploration and the general idea of human progress, so it's disheartening to read about the stuttering momentum of NASA. The telescope is facing an uphill battle in Congress and already has a projected cost of $8 billion that would let it finally see space sometime in 2018 ($1.5 billion and three years more than expected). The proposed solution? Scrape an extra billion from NASA's science budget. It would be interesting to ask what everyone working in that division think of the plan.
It sounds like a worthy project, but it's hard watching an institution like NASA struggle with the financial realities of the day. Understandably, this is why people are looking to private space exploration to continue the mission that NASA started in the U.S. We'll have to see how that evolves on its own. As for the evolution of NASA, its scientists will probably have to adopt the same stoicism that a lot of journalists are employing: Keep your head down, try to adapt to the times and always, always work on preserving optimism.
