Once and for all...are humans or robots better for Mars?

On Thursday, January 20, 2011 6:11:34 AM UTC-7, Pat Flannery wrote:
(the Vietnam
War)...and we looked the Moon over...and found out it was boring,
lifeless, very expensive to go to, and very hostile to human life.
None of that will have changed if we go back there.

Quite a lot has changed since the 70s.

Now we have reason to believe there are massive ice deposits at the lunar poles:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Mi..._deposits.html

Neighboring the permanently shadowed craters are regions nearly constantly illuminated with much milder temperature swings than the lower latitudes:
http://blogs.airspacemag.com/moon/20...e-lunar-poles/

The recent batch of lunar orbiters have blown away the notion that the moon's a boring place with nothing new to learn.

The ice deposits makes a lunar presence much more doable for several reasons: water to drink, oxygen for life support, water for radiation shielding, and most importantly, hydrogen and oxygen for propellent.

The Mars rovers are cited to demonstrate the inadequacy of telerobots. The state of art for telerobots has advanced since Spirit and Opportunity were launched. Also the moon suffers a 3 second light lag vs a 10 to 30 minute Mars light lag. A number of people are proposing telerobots preparing lunar sites for possible human arrival.
Paul Spudis:
http://www.spudislunarresources.com/...Lunar_Base.pdf
Greg Baiden:
http://www.portaltotheuniverse.org/p...ps/view/90068/
Bill Stone:
http://www.space.com/10619-mining-mo...ne-110114.html

I don't see it as robots vs humans. I see it as robots enabling a sustained human presence.

Hop wrote:
The Mars rovers are cited to demonstrate the inadequacy of telerobots. The state of art for telerobots has advanced since Spirit and Opportunity were launched. Also the moon suffers a 3 second light lag vs a 10 to 30 minute Mars light lag. A number of people are proposing telerobots preparing lunar sites for possible human arrival.
Paul Spudis:
http://www.spudislunarresources.com/...Lunar_Base.pdf
Greg Baiden:
http://www.portaltotheuniverse.org/p...ps/view/90068/
Bill Stone:
http://www.space.com/10619-mining-mo...ne-110114.html

I don't see it as robots vs humans. I see it as robots enabling a sustained human presence.


I am 100% on board with this vision. NASA can contract with the commercial
providers for LV delivery of these robotic lunar explorers. They should be
literally crawling over the moon with the decade, operated by whom?

How 'bout middle schooler folks. Let's give 'em a stake. When they become
adults you can bet your ass we'll have people there soon enough and in short
order.

You don't think they can handle it? Try reading Ender's Game sometime...
When I was 16 I was co-running a 600+ acre corn and soybean operation with my
dad. I was operating a self-propelled combine before I had my driver's
license. Many teens my age were doing the same and still are in the mid-west.
With proper adult supervision, this is not an issue.

Dave