The next few decades of astronomy are going to be astounding...

Debbie Downer's brother Doug dropping in to threadsh&t and say: I am pessimistic that given the NASA and ESA budgetary constraints we are going to see many of this not yet out the door except in a delayed or altered form.

But having said that, keeping a hopeful heart: ... orbiters to Europa & Ganymede) 2020. By 2030 if they think they have sensed what could be whales-sized beasts or huge schools of "fish" under the ice everything changes of course ...but if not the current plan would be to then send an orbiter to Titan in the 2030's. No landers ....

I wish there were unlimited budgets and that there was huge political and popular support for space exploration -- but that is not where we are at this time.

... and that is my crappy way of saying : Great topic! Great responses! (not being sarcastic).

Great thread. S&F! I really believe that these next 20 years are going to turn the current paradigm upside-down and then some.

But OP, I can't believe you forgot one thing - The Kepler Telescope!

Very exciting time indeed. Its about that time to take the next great leap in space discovery. Lets just hope that ppl continue to want to examin the stars

Humans grow exponentially. Remember that. God only know what's 60 years from now.

reply to post by Sparkly_Eyed777


Absolutely.

It's amazing how beautiful nebulae can be, being they're essentially just illuminated gas clouds.

What blows my mind is the sheer size of most of them, with distances measured in LYs. That's truly incredible.

I'm currently hoping all the projects I mentioned receive sufficient funding, it's kind of sad when some simply do not realize how important space exploration and discovery actually is.

It also seems fundamental to me that space could be a tool to bridge the differences in the human race that cause conflict, if more people would simply realize we are but a grain of sand on an infinitely large beach.