No OMG
[picture caption} "Oh my god, it's full of stars!"
I believe Dave Bowman's words were: "My God, it's full of stars!". In a voice filled with wonder, not OMG.
In these days of budget cuts and sequesters, it's especially important that NASA gets the most for its money, and so the agency will restart using the decommissioned Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope as part of its quest to map the heavens for asteroids. WISE NASA kit is built to last The WISE telescope …
The Eye of Japetus had blinked, as if to remove an irritating speck of dust. David Bowman had time for just one broken sentence which the waiting men in Mission Control, nine hundred million miles away and eighty minutes in the future, were never to forget:
"The thing's hollow – it goes on forever – and – ZOMG LOL – it's full of stars! ROFLMAOOoooooo....!"
i second that sentiment, excellent!
Was about time money was used for something not intended to kill or destroy.
Now, having said that, if they do actually find a meteor/asteroid that is a threat (which is when this mission pays off) they still don't have any means of doing anything about it.
Maybe they should also invest some cash in coming up with ways of dealing with such threats that don't involve Bruce Willis going up with a rigging-crew
Like WISE, Kepler has completed its primary mission; just as WISE is now too hot to look outside the solar system, so Kepler shakes too much to spot planets. But they are only just starting to evaluate potential secondary missions for Kepler, so don't write it off; new uses may be found for it.