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Old April 5th 08, 03:35 PM posted to sci.space.moderated
Herman Rubin
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Posts: 13
Default When is manned spaceflight preferred?

In article ,
wrote:
Can anyone refer me to papers/reports which study
when one might need manned spaceflight? What
tasks can't robots do?


There are lots of them.

For example, suppose we want to find out if an asteroid
can be mined for a mineral, or can be made habitable.
A robot can find out, possibly very slowly, that the
mineral is there, but cannot consider the problems of
excavation, refining, etc. Nor can it decide on the
spot which alternative methods to use for constructing
temporary or permanent living quarters. Nor could
they investigate whether people could live in the
Moon or in asteroids, which may well be the proper
place for some of mankind to live in the future.

Robots cannot even do a good job of surveying Mars.
Robots cannot think, and if one needs a half hour round
time to communicate, it is necessary to be very careful
near the edge of a cliff or a slope. So robots moving
at one mile per day explore little.

It is true we can often use robots more cheaply than
humans, but all of our machines are sub-imbeciles, no
matter what their speed. Judgment is often needed.
--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558