Anthonares

There has been a fair amount of editorial writing in the last few days about the whole humans vs. robots “argument” in light of the impending launch of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. This is a favorite topic of discussion among space enthusiasts for a couple of reasons, but to us it is a resolved question. Both humans and robots will be needed to explore space, each to their own strengths. Yet, seemingly unaware of this consensus view, or uncaring, the editorial press are whipped up by the likes of Robert L. Park, the loudest critic of manned space exploration. So, the “debate” continues.

Those who have read my blog for some time are probably well aware of my stance on this issue, and I wrote an article supporting manned planetary exploration in an edition of The Space Review. Starting with a short fictional future-history (futuristory), I will assume that human spaceflight has long since ended. Arguing from there I will show that it is completely illogical to waste money on robotic exploration if the eventual goal is not to prepare for human exploration as well.

A Short Fictional Futuristory
Manned space flight is a thing of dusty museum displays, and has been for two generations. Robotic probes have succeeded where man could never have hoped: we have flown into the depths of Jupiter and briefly survived a plunge into the sun; we have explored each planet and mapped their minerals; our scientists now understand how the solar system formed; our robotic telescopes have mapped the asteroids, Kuiper Belt objects, and the stars of the Milky Way; we are even exploring the Oort Cloud and preparing for our first true interplanetary probes.

With each discovery, however, the public has become less enthusiastic. The charismatic discoveries were made years ago. The mass apathy has begun to pull down funding levels for the various international space programs, so that only a few truly exploring space are left. The rest merely manage networks of satellites that help us to feed our ten billion neighbors.

Why Robots Only Exploration Doesn’t Make Sense
I hope the mood has been set with those two paragraphs. The key is that we all imagine a world without any human space exploration, no LEO, no tourist hotels, nothing. Humans are here on the ground, and the money that went into human space exploration has long since been swallowed by healthcare costs for an aging population, and defense expenditures necessary to preserve the current world order.

It won’t take long for people to really begin to question what we are spending money exploring space for. After all, what tangible benefit does understanding the rings of Saturn provide to work-aday Joe? It is completely illogical for a government to spend money exploring space if we are not going to someday derive economic or social benefits from doing so. Robotic space exploration will never provide real economic return, and the social benefits of all of the robotically-snapped photos in the world will never equal those of the short video of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon.

There are those who try and justify space exploration in terms of economics, and they are not successful so far. Yet, for some strange reason, the world explores space. Why is this? I think it is because exploration, scientific or otherwise, is not a logical thing. We all need to do it from the very day we are born. Bob Park does not propose to make the space program a break-even operation, he just hates the idea that wasteful inefficient people should do the exploration (about which he is completely wrong). But Park is not a pragmatist, he’s a dreamer. He believes that exploration in and of itself has fundamental value.

But are we to sit here on the Earth exploring the lands beyond with our tools and be satisfied when we have the technology and the desire to live outside of Earth’s atmosphere. Will the populace be content to explore the night sky from their bedroom window telescope when right down the stairs and through the door is the immensity of the universe in one astounding view? Our rockets and space stations are those stairs and that door, and the universe is waiting for us to explore it. Robots cannot satisfy our needs to explore for long.

If NASA ended its manned spaceflight today, there would come another soon when the deafening public demand for access to space would bring its reinstatement. Whether or not NASA is the right organization for the job is another open question, but without some government assistance it will take decades longer for private enterprise to do it alone. So, let’s relax and take the long view because we know two things: 1) we all want to explore, and space is one of the only places left for that to happen, and 2) we need government spending to get us into space long enough to allow economics to take over; until that day human spaceflight will remain expensive.