It was the best of times, it was the WFIRST of times: How NASA's next exoplanet hunter could find 1,000+ worlds

NASA’s in-development Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope could help scientists discover as many as 1,400 distant exoplanets, according to new estimates. The mission, dubbed WFIRST, was proposed in 2010 by the US National Research Council. Seen as a successor to the retired orbiting Kepler space telescope, WFIRST will also be …

[Anonymous Coward]

I hadn't realised

that WFIRST had been brought back to life after being a victim of the orange shitgibbon. That's good news (although I bet most of the Earth observation stuff he also killed is still dead, which is very bad news).

[UKHobo]

Re: I hadn't realised

orange shitgibbon, very good, well done.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I hadn't realised

The origins of the ...

https://slate.com/culture/2017/02/the-origin-of-the-trump-insult-shitgibbon-revealed.html

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I hadn't realised

I got it from Charlie Stross. I had assumed it was common usage!

[Graham Jordan]

Re: I hadn't realised

I came here to discuss the James Webb delay,

I had to pick myself off the floor over the orange shitgibbon. Well done sir. Well done.

[Pen-y-gors]

Never mind mapping...

Sod all this 'finding 1400 new exoplanets' stuff. When are we launching the orange shitgibbon and the Maybot in a small capsule to land on & explore one? We could call it the B Ark maybe?

[Chris G]

Re: Never mind mapping...

I think you may have found the perfect ballistic material for firinf at an asteroid. Lets face it 2 kilos of copper is worth some money.

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

Re: Never mind mapping...

A B-Ark might indeed solve the problem, and adding shitgibbons of all colours does seem a good course of action, but don't send all the telephone sanitisers, history (or at least the HHGTTG) tells us

Doffs hat to the late, great Douglas Adams once more