A hard lesson in the study of starbursts has been that their scales and complexities push the limits of instrumental spatial resolution even in nearby systems. For instance, it is difficult: (a) to measure the diameters of SSC's (~ 2-10 pc) in order to obtain reliable mass and IMF inferences; (b) to study superwind substructures in nearby starbursts and to determine host morphologies in distant ones; and (c) to obtain kinematics of starbursts on the appropriate physical scales.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been the mainstay of high
resolution (~ 0.05") imaging and spectroscopy for 14
years. An informal count shows that over half the contributions in
this conference relied in some way on HST data. But HST will not last
much more than another 6 years even if NASA can find a safe way of
servicing it. In the foreseeable future, we will have the EVLA and
ALMA for high-resolution radio/mm observations and JWST and
ground-based AO systems for high resolution near and mid-IR
observations. However, it is doubtful that AO systems will operate
well for
1µ. Unfortunately, there are no current plans
to replace or improve (to ~ 0.01"?) high resolution
optical/UV capability in space. It is vital to remedy that situation.