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Space exploration from a shirtsleeve environment
Our current concept of space exploration is too much like the way we do
things on earth. Space station assembly involved many hours of EVA, astronauts in spacesuits trying to finish before their air supply runs low. Our idea of lunar exploration entirely mimics earth activities. The lunar lander encapsulates the astronauts. It lands on the moon, they climb down a ladder, walk or stumble around in the dust, collect samples, maybe drive around in a rover vehicle. In the end they climb back and fly home. I think it would be much more efficient to encapsulate the astronauts in a confortable robotic vehicle that has manipulator arms to collect samples, air conditioning, life support, communications, consumables, motors, etc. We already have a lot of experience with such vehicles from undersea exploration. The astronauts could stay within their vehicles for long periods of time, they could drive around and collect samples, look for water ice and other resources. When they are finished they could dock their vehicles to the ascent module and fly into orbit. There is no need to ever wear spacesuits. Assembly of large structures in the future may be better done in space by astronauts flying around in their robotic vehicles that have manipulator arms. I have spent many years developing force reflecting teleoperation systems that allow the operator to feel the forces that the robot arms feel. This technology works very well when the time delay is short, the operator is not far from the robot. In general any acivity in space or on another celestial body could be more effectively performed by designing robotic life support vehicles around the individuals involved. This same principle applies even to most environments on the earth, such as military activities. I believe these vehicles can be more cheaply developed and built than spacesuits, they can also save weight overall. The astronauts can spend more time working, they can exert larger forces, observe minute details better. They are also safer from meteorite impacts and equipment malfunctions. |
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