The future of HST and the planning for a Next Generation Space Telescope

Abstract

After the success of the refurbishment mission to HST in December 1993, the telescope has taken its place at the very leading edge of astrophysical research. The breadth and depth of the topics covered at the HST conference in Paris in December 1995 gave us a foretaste of the value of the data archive being accumulated and the supreme importance of future observations for guiding and enriching the programmes carried out with Keck and the very large groundbased telescopes nearing completion. This talk will outline, as far as we know them, the plans for HST beyond the 1997 and 1999 servicing missions. The current planning for a Next Generation Space Telescope as part of NASAs 'Origins' initiative will be described with particular emphasis on possibilities for European participation.