To be fair, it’s not as if those things are mutually-exclusive. For example, you know how the Hubble Space Telescope is this extremely unique and nigh-irreplaceable scientific instrument that cost a pretty big fraction of NASA’s entire budget?
Well, it turns out we actually have dozens of the damn things; it’s just that we couldn’t be bothered to actually point more than one of them away from Earth instead of towards it.
Hell, a decade ago the National Reconnaissance Office gave NASA a couple for free 'cause they just had 'em lying around, but (as far as I know) NASA hasn’t managed to scrounge up enough money from the couch cushions to spruce 'em up and launch 'em yet.
To be fair, it’s not as if those things are mutually-exclusive. For example, you know how the Hubble Space Telescope is this extremely unique and nigh-irreplaceable scientific instrument that cost a pretty big fraction of NASA’s entire budget?
Well, it turns out we actually have dozens of the damn things; it’s just that we couldn’t be bothered to actually point more than one of them away from Earth instead of towards it.
Hell, a decade ago the National Reconnaissance Office gave NASA a couple for free 'cause they just had 'em lying around, but (as far as I know) NASA hasn’t managed to scrounge up enough money from the couch cushions to spruce 'em up and launch 'em yet.