The Mars rovers go slow because they have such a long response and action time, and nobody wants to risk a screwup. There is some automated decision making, but not enough.
If a Lunar rover got a wheel stuck in the dirt, two astronauts could spend three minutes lifting it out of the rut. Humans will always be able to respond more effectively to unexpected situations in real time until we get true artificial intelligence.
To be fair, teleoperated systems would also allow for that, and the Moon is close enough to Earth that a teleoperated presence is much more practical than for Mars. My own preference for the next major phase of Mars exploration would be fleets of remote-operated vehicles on the surface of Mars operated by humans in Mars orbit.
Space/Science » in reply to Horribly naive argument
re: Horribly naive argument
The whole thread (34 posts)
- A View of the Obama Admin's Revamp of Manned Spaceflight Future
- I think the most important questions haven't been addressed.
- Is it feasible to mothball the ISS instead of deorbiting it?
- You'll live long enough to see the Chinese on the Moon
- sexing up unmanned vs doing manned
- re: sexing up unmanned vs doing manned
- re: unmanned vs manned
- Why manned flights matter
- re: sexing up unmanned vs doing manned
- Disapointing but not shocking...