In a CNN article Don
Lincoln argues that space exploration should be conducted by machines first,
and only conditionally by humans in the future.
He states that people are fragile “They need food, water, and air. They
can exist in only a narrow range of temperatures and find inhospitable both
vacuums and a radioactive environment” (Lincoln, 2017). Since humans have a limited range they can
live within, his stance is it makes sense to send machines into space for all
preliminary investigations and studies of space. I believe he has some valid points in his
article.
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| Hubble, courtesy NASA |
Since humans are fragile
it’s costly to engineer spacecrafts for human habitation. Mars Curiosity Rover costs around $2.5
billion dollars and collected large amounts of data for NASA (Lincoln, 2017). Cassini’s
mission to Saturn cost around $3.2 billion and the Hubble costs around $14
billion and key in determining that the expansion of the universe is
accelerating (Lincoln, 2017). By
contrast the estimated costs of a manned mission by 2030 is around $1 trillion,
that dollar amount would hamstring the rest of the budget for space exploration
(Lincoln, 2017).
“The fragility
of humans, our aversion for risking human life, and the all-too-human need for
consumables (food, water and oxygen) require vast amounts of money to pay for
the extra engineering and multiple redundant systems we demand to reduce risk
to astronauts, as well as for the vastly larger support crews needed to
baby-sit every aspect of daily life during a manned space mission” (Colwell
& Britt, n.d.). From a budgetary
standpoint I agree with Lincoln, it is significantly more cost effective to
send machines to space than it is humans.
“Manned programs can cost tens or hundreds of times more than the
robotic missions” (Lincoln, 2017).
One of the ultimate goals
of space exploration is to make humanity a multiplanetary species. Deciding where
to live is a big question still. Terraforming
Mars, converting it to a world with and atmosphere suitable for us, could take centuries
or possibly even a millennium (Warmflash, 2017). “There is no place in our solar system where
pioneers can simply drop seeds in the soil and wait for food to pop out of the
ground. For that, we need to look at distant stars” (Lincoln, 2017).
Any potential planet believed
to be a suitable habitat for humans, without the need for terraforming, would need
to be explored by machines first. A trip
to and from Proxima Centauri, our nearest stellar neighbor, would take around
eight years (Lincoln, 2017). Even
travelling to Jupiter would take around seven years one way (The 12 Greatest,
2016). The amount of space radiation a
human would be subject to is known to cause cancer, eye issues and possibly
Alzheimer’s (The 12 Greatest, 2016).
Machines do not require protections, nor do they suffer from health
issues associated with space travel.
Lincoln argues that
machines should be used to explore space, for now. With the expense of sending
humans to space, and the potential health effects it only makes sense to let
machines do all the initial work. Once
machines have explored into the depths of space and figured out what planet
would be suitable then it would make sense to start sending humans into
space. “With a welcoming destination
beckoning to them, a team of intrepid men and women will leave the solar system
and strike out for a new home. And, at that moment, homo interstellaris will
come of age” (Lincoln, 2017).
References:
Colwell, J., & Britt,
D. (n.d.). Are robots or astronauts the future of space exploration? Retrieved
September 10, 2017, from https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/opinion/
Lincoln, D. (2017, April
20). Machines, Not People, Should be Exploring Space for Now. Retrieved
September 10, 2017, from http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/20/opinions/machines-not-people-should-be-exploring-space-opinion-lincoln/index.html
The 12 Greatest
Challenges for Space Exploration. (2016, February 16). Retrieved September 10,
2017, from https://www.wired.com/2016/02/space-is-cold-vast-and-deadly-humans-will-explore-it-anyway/
Warmflash, D. (2017,
September 08). Quest to colonize space demands boost from biotechnology,
synthetic biology. Retrieved September 10, 2017, from https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2017/09/08/quest-colonize-space-demands-boost-biotechnology-synthetic-biology/
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