The Next Leap In Space Exploration

An anonymous reader writes "The crew of the space shuttle Endeavor recently returned to Earth as ambassadors, harbingers of a new era of space exploration. Scientists at NASA are saying that the recent assembly of the Dextre bot is the first step in a long-term space-based man/machine partnership. '"The work we're doing now -- the robotics we're doing -- is what we're going to need to do to build any work station or habitat structure on the moon or Mars," said Allard Beutel, a spokesman for NASA. "Yes, this is just the beginning." Further joint human-robot projects will "be a symbiotic relationship. It's part of a long-term effort for us to branch out into the solar system. We're going to need this type of hand-in-robotic-hand [effort] to make this happen. We're in the infancy of space exploration. We have to start somewhere and this is as good a place as any."'"

Comments

Yup!

[maillemaker]

Wouldn't it be cool to launch your robotic servants to Mars long before humans went, and remotely control them (or not) to build the infrastructure for us before we arrive?

Re:Maybe I am in a bad mood today but..

[geekoid]

". I feel like it happens quite late,"
Is there some sort of galactic timetable only you are aware of? I'm not sure how it is 'late'.

" quite slowly,"
Compared tt other Man/Robotic space missions nobody else is aware of?"

" costs too much"
Compared to...?

"and still is underfunded."
Remember: Fast friendly and free.. no that's not the one...
Fast, inexpensive, High Quality, pick two. That's the one!

Yes, I would love them to get a lot more money, and be able to do more research in any given time frame.
Human/Robot missions is the next logical(to me) step. I would love to see the Robots/Human in space argument end. It's stupid and pointless.

Re:Maybe I am in a bad mood today but..

[ArcherB]

What fills us with the need to go f*#k up another planet? Since man is a 100% natural product of the earth, so is anything man does. In other words, IF this planet is f*#ked up by our doing, and we are natural product of the earth itself, the earth has f*#ked itself up, naturally.

Besides, even if we are responsible for this planet, I think we are doing a much better job with Earth than mother nature has done with any other planet in the system.