In sci.astro.amateur David Martel <marte005@earthlink.net> wrote:

Kevin,

   It will be very difficult to convince most people that launching a space 
probe should be done without a budget. Your argument that something useful 
might crop up at anytime is not a justification for such an open ended 
policy. It is up to the scientists involved to show the bean counters that 
on average it is fiscally wise to keep these things going. Otherwise your 
argument is analagous to buying a lottery ticket every day because you might 
win. The science folks must calculate the odds and show that these probes 
have a good chance of winning the lottery.

I don't think anyone is arguing that we shouldn't have a budget, but rather
that the budget should not be cut off arbitrarely.

When it comes down to it, science never can be justified on the basis of return
on investment a priori to any discoveries that might be made.  There is simply 
too much uncertainty involved.  On the flip side, we know that the more we 
invest in science, the more discoveries we are likely to encounter and some of
them almost certainly will be astounding.

--
Bill