President's Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond

Greetings Val,

Here's my try to do justice to the points you raise:

"I agree with Claudio's last statement comparing the
degree of impact that a robot digging by the ton would
have over an astronaut drilling rocks on
Mars."

I was referring to Robots on the Moon and not Mars.
The whole idea is to make resources from the moon
available to astronauts heading to Mars.

"However, I see two things wrong with that vision.
One, I think we could expect far more out of a human
visit to Mars than merely drilling a hole in a rock. I
am quite sure that a trained geoligist would see
things that no robot could by virtue of real time
interaction with the sample and making decisions on
the spot. Surely anyone can extrapolate a bit and
begin to see a whole range of very important things an
astronaut could accomplish (key word here, over merely
'do')."

Hands down scientific work should be done by humans as
close to the subject as possible. Robots are great if
you can't get there or might get your hand bitten off.
Anything that requires decisions 'intelligence'
better have a human involved somewhere.

"Second, and more importantly, I think that the time
lines are quite different in length from now towards
either the robot or the astronaut. Simply, I believe
it is possible right now to mount a mission to Mars
that would deliver astronauts and return them, whereas
the robotic industtrialization of the moon is
certainly much further off. "

I would assert that the difference between putting
resources into a moon base for two decades to build up
resources and going directly for Mars are about the
same. Take for instance the experience of Mt Everest.
If you are exceptional and everything goes right, you
can climb it in a couple of days by yourself. If you
take the time to build a hotel in the North and South
col then you have greatly expanded safety and comfort
margin. Somebody can come out to rescue you if
disaster strikes.

"Given the present distractions from space endeavours,
like catching people with barrels of enriched Uranium
in the desert, which look like they could easily get
out of hand and delay our space dreams by centuries; I
would like to see us with a firm commitment to doing
something substantial that will engage the public in
such a way as to gain strong support for farther
reacing projects, and so on, and before the world
becomes to bogged
down or distracted..."

The military needs robotic technical innovation
something terrible. In Afghanistan they were sending
in remote control toy monster trucks with video
cameras to detect booby traps. In Iraq what would a
sensor laden convoy of mixed manned and robotic
vehicles do for assailents. The robotic vehicles
could look just like a manned vehicle giving a false
target for insurgents to hit. They could give chase
and shoot with impunity.

This is the sort of opportunity that existed when NASA
was formed and the military desperately needed missle
exotic material technology. Now they need robots to
extend the reach of soldiers without getting killed by
a booby trap.

"My son just turned five years old. Wouldn't it be
nice for him to have a chance at going to Mars, much
less us old folks..."

I hear you, I've got a 9 year old daughter with
similar hopes. It is my bet that industrializing the
moon will give rise to the resources at a low enough
cost to make Mars a safe trip. NASA needs to do new
things to stay vital and the moon is close enough and
resource rich enough to make a great platform. Once
you get the moon started I would guess that a lot of
people are going to see why this is vital and really
pick up the pace.

Here's to the future. - Thor