Re:NASA not ready for dangers of deep space, auditors say
by thescriptkiddie on Monday November 23, 2015 @03:03PM
(#10616909)
Robots can't reproduce. They can't repair themselves. They can't even fix each other. One day in the distant future we'll build robots that can do those things, I'm certain of it, and then we can build planet-colonizing robot swarms. But even then, the most useful thing they will be able to do is prepare for the arrival of humans. Robots won't be ready to replace humans for the purposes of science and exploration until they're ready to replace us altogether, which is a long way off yet.
and water and balanced nutrition and oxygen and a very narrow temperature operating range and a very short hibernate mode (cannot really go without water/food for an extended time) and have to sleep every day and sensitive to radiation and cannot operate in low pressure and need to defecate and urinate etc.
A drone/robot can be run on solar power. If there isn't enough energy it can go into hibernate mode for months. And you also have to take into account that a manned mission is planned for something like 2030. Robotics is such a rapidly evolving field that by then they will be so much more sophisticated than today.
Don't get me wrong. I think sending people to Mars will be awesome and inspiring. But I think it wouldn't be a rational decision.