Humans — more than the better robots for exploration?

Abstract

The scientific exploration of outer space, defined here as going to places between the Earth’s ionosphere at 100 km altitude and the outer reaches of our solar system, some 10 billion kilometres away, and doing measurements there, has been done mostly by robots. Why? For the outer solar system, beyond the orbit of Mars or the asteroid belt, the answer is simple: we do not yet have the technology to let humans go there, let alone survive there. In the inner solar system, Venus is within reach in terms of travel time, but both Venus and Mercury’s conditions are so hostile that the survival of humans would not be possible.