🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <8611171047.AA09235@s1-b.arpa> ESG7@DFVLROP1.BITNET writes:
>...On any event
>
>this TAU mission strikes me as a misuse of limited planetary exploration
>
>funds.
>
>                       Gary Allen

I attended the original lecture on the TAU proposal over a year ago,
and I can assure you it would be neither a waste of funds nor a
boondoggle. The primary mission of TAU is to permit very precise
astrometry of nearby stars orders of magnitude better than any we can
achieve now. With a 1000 AU baseline, we will be able to determine
accurate stellar distances for stars all the way to the galactic
center ('nearby stars' being a relative term here). Add to this the
fact that TAU essentially involves putting a HST grade telescope
outside our solar system, thus giving us the capability for a
useful perspective on our own system form a very different vantage
point. 

One should also not ignore the fact that this ion-powered bus gliding
out of our system gives us the perfect opportunity to do good hard
science in near-interstellar space (5 times the distance at which we
will lose contact with Voyagers 1 and 2). Many intruments besides the
telescope can be hung on the platform, which--unlike Voyager--is
designed to be talked to at that distance.

TAU 'goes nowhere' only in the same sense that the Voyagers or the
Pioneers do. It's what it'll gather on the way that makes it so
valuable.

Oh, yes, I don't have any personal interest in the project here at
JPL. My comments are strictly from my own interest in seeing the best
use made of the limited planetary exploration budget.
-- 
=======================================================
Adams Douglas	ARPA:crash!adamsd@nosc.arpa  AT&T:818-354-3076
JPL/NASA	UUCP:{akgua | hplabs!hp-sdd | sdcsvax | noscvax}!crash!adamsd

My opinions! Do you hear? MINE! Not JPL's.

"Do not be angry with me if I tell you the truth." -- Socrates