Marcuse wrote:So what does everyone think about the possibility of unmanned exploration of the galaxy? Obviously we send probes and rovers into space now, but how much more will we continue to use this as a tool in space exploration. Why would we ever bother building an Enterprise if we could send an advanced Ai out to do the same job?
Given that machines can be designed to be suited for the rigours of space, is it too much risk to send humans out into space? Could the colonization of planets be started by machines decades or centuries before humans ever set foot there?
Yeah, Marcuse. The way it's looking now, the most research is being put in to AI/robotic space travel. Like you say, it is just sooooo difficult to ensure human safety in space, and there are other practical problems too, such as the huge amount of supplies necessary to keep humans alive over a long period of time in space.
Weight is one of the main concerns when considering any mission, and robots are much more efficient per kg than a human is, and the robots don't need all the extras. We can still receive all the data collected by the mission, without any need for a human presence. It is also arguably easier to control a robotic mission, with pre-set programmes, fail safes, and of course we can still have human input if necessary from ground control. Essentially it is just more practical to send robotic missions, and that is where most of the research is being concentrated, for good reason.
I will hopefully be working with NASA/ESA in the future (that's the plan after my PhD!), and while human missions will certainly still be happening, with the ISS and possibly Mars, but it will be on a much smaller scale than the robotic missions in the works.
Check out the mission lists on the NASA and ESA websites!!
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/http://sci.esa.int/home/51459-missions/
"The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us -- there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation, as if a distant memory, of falling from a height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries."
-Carl Sagan