It's 100 times less expensive to send robots to Mars than humans.
I'm too impatient to find out what's out there to wait for humans. So, we send robots.
The robot technology gets better and better, while humans will require some confort, won't ever shrink in size and have to do numerous other things beside being merely productive to the mission.
And Cheap Access To Space...Well, it depends on the aerospace companies that are only too happy it stays expensive (more jobs, etc...). Maybe an outside incentive like the cheaper Soyuz or the Shenzhou might change the rules of the game.
But even if it stays expensive, the money doesn't go to space, it circulates on Earth, and mainly inside the US, for NASA sponsored flights. So what does the money do and how does it become more expensive, it must all be traceable.
Raoul
Space/Science » in reply to Re: conversation
Re: conversation (2) sorry, slipped the fingers
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- Will space exploration ever get back off the ground?: an IM conversation