Abandon the Idea of Sending Living Bodies into Space

Richard Yarnell

November 19, 2012

I'd like to see us finally understand that we'll get a lot more science done if we abandon the idea of sending living bodies into space. While it is dangerous, it's very expensive. We should spend our time developing ever more capable robots. The argument that people don't pay attention to robots is belied by all of those we've sent to Mars. While an attractive target, the moon is just too dusty. We haven't built a machine that could be maintained long term in those conditions. Let's find out of we can't float a boat on either a water or methane lake and send one, instrumented to the gunwales with cameras we can put into the depths. The Planetary Society should understand that sending men on long term missions is wasteful of our resources and probably cruel.

Comments:

Tom Hinckley: 11/20/2012 07:15 CST

I agree that robots, for now, should do our exploring. Our level of technology still has a way to go before sending people beyond Earth's orbit safely and with a means of rescue if problems occur.

Hamiltonsr71: 11/20/2012 11:04 CST

Although robotic exploration has the benefits you cite, still man should dare to also explore. Much research needs to be done but human exploration will provide benefits robots can't achieve.