Bush’s ill-conceived moon-Mars initiative continues to force its way through the scientific community, taking down worthwhile scientific projects as it goes.

Ignoring recent scientific history that shows that robotic missions produce more bang for the buck, NASA most likely plans to abandon the Hubble Space Telescope, terminate the Voyager 1 and 2 missions (as well as six others), and now looks to lay off 15 percent of its full-time workforce.

Bush still hasn’t elucidated a clear reason for going to the Moon and Mars, and he certainly doesn’t seem very enthusiastic about it. Meanwhile, good science is on the chopping block, and there’s no evidence the Administration really cares.