On Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:39:33 GMT, Davoud wrote:

I have pondered the question of when it will make sense to manned
exploration. The answer I keep coming up with is possibly never...

It seems to me that there are very useful things that people can do in
terms of exploration that are difficult for robots. The problem is, the
current cost of manned exploration missions is orders of magnitude
greater than robotic missions, and the potential gains are not so large.

I think that manned exploration will make sense when and if we ever
develop a cheap, reliable way to get out of Earth's gravitational well.
That may be a long time.

I don't think a manned presence in an Earth orbiting research station is
a bad thing at all; unfortunately, ISS has never lived up to that
promise. Something more on the scale of Skylab would allow manned
microgravity research at a fraction of the cost of ISS. That, of course,
would allow for a broad expansion of robotic research missions.
_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com