General Discussion

He is arriving tomorrow to visit me (hooray!) and I will push him as hard as I can on this.

For me the real issue is that I expect that funding for anything at all in astronomy is going to disappear. My Son The Astronomer does exo-planet research, and that is clearly one of the many things the DOGE ignoramuses know NOTHING about.

He's also extraordinarily fortunate in that he has an independent source of income (read: inheritance from grandparents and other relatives) and so actually does not need to work, were it to come to that. But he is fundamentally, intrinsically, and essentially someone who likes to work, who loves research, who is utterly fascinated by his field/research/learning.

Right now, as he finishes his PhD at George Mason, he's paid to operate the telescope there, which I gather he is pretty good at.