SETI public: Open Letter to the HST-JWST Transition Panel on Optical SETI

• Previous message: LARRY KLAES: "Re: SETI public: The Flag of Earth now in the public domain"

Open Letter to the HST-JWST Transition Panel
Concerning Space-Based Optical SETI
On July 31, 2003, the Transition Panel for the Hubble Space Telescope/James Webb Space Telescope issued a report on the scientific impact of the current NASA plan for ending HST operations and beginning JWST operations. The panel requested further comments from the scientific community.
The open letter that follows concerns the retrofit of the HST for Optical SETI (OSETI) and the design of the JWST to incorporate the capability of undertaking OSETI.
To see why it is important to have space-based Optical SETI observatories one only has to consider the spectral window presented by Earth's atmosphere. The atmospheric transmission chart presented here covers the approximate wavelength range of the James-Webb Space Telescope. Not shown is the ultra-violet band between 0.3 microns and 0.1 microns which is blocked by Earth's atmosphere but is available to the Hubble Space Telescope. These two telescopes together provide a complementary means to access a substantial and contiguous range of optical frequencies.
On a more philosophical note, it is distressing to read that NASA has given up on the idea of eventually bringing the HST back to Earth for display in the Smithsonian or parking it in a higher orbit for safety, but would rather send it crashing back to Earth in a controlled re-entry at the end of this decade. This is pure vandalism. It is rather like suggesting that if the original Santa Maria was on display in a museum in Spain and while towing it to the New World for display here it accidentally sank, we would make no attempt to retrieve it.
Our descendants would not think much of this generation if we did not leave them the legacy of the Hubble Space Telescope to marvel at. Even if we were not ready for the HST to undertake OSETI in this decade, by parking it safely in a higher orbit, we would ensure its availability later both for OSETI and its eventual display in the Smithsonian, after the Space Shuttle is replaced by a more reliable space vehicle.
If you agree to the importance for the HST and JWST to be equipped to undertake OSETI observations, please contact Professor Bahcall and/or the NASA Administrator, Dr. Sean O'Keefe at NASA Headquarters. In particular, you are encouraged to contact NASA about this matter, whether you are a scientist, engineer, a concerned member of the public, or just a citizen of Planet Earth. 2010 should not mark the end of the HST but a new beginning.

http://www.coseti.org/hst-jwst.htm

• Previous message: LARRY KLAES: "Re: SETI public: The Flag of Earth now in the public domain"

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.6 : Sun Nov 02 2003 - 17:48:48 PST