So our Fearless Leader is set to announce plans today to return to the moon as well as send a manned mission to Mars. What he probably won’t say is how he expect to pay for all this.
The two of you who know me know I am a space junkie. I grew up watching space launches. Even wanted to be an astronaut at one point. But though I still thrill when those giant rockets are fired up, even I can’t justify sending folks above low-earth orbit.
Computer and robotic advances have made sending humans into space entirely redundant. Sure, there is SOME science being conducted on the International Space Station, but its mostly space PR. There is nothing going on on the ISS that can’t be done remotely, for far less money and risk.
We dismantled our huge Saturn V rockets nearly thirty years ago, turning our spacefaring experience largely into museum pieces or scrap steel for razor blades. What passes for manned space today is essentially space public relations, usually fronting for one of the biggest money-sucking government agencies around: NASA.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a lot of what NASA does. The Apollo manned moon missons were amazingly inspring. At a fragile time of world relations, they provided all mankind something to celebrate. But even with all the capabilities we had to get us there, all that infrastructure and brainpower, there was no denying we’d never be more than space tourists. We didn’t have the tools for anything more then, and we certainly don’t have them now.
The unmanned, inexpensive missions are now where its at. Putting people in places where robots can do the work for a fraction of the cost is bad policy. There is no compelling need to revive the enormous resources required for manned flight when the science supposedly driving it can be done with robots.
The glory days of manned space exploration are behind us and far ahead of us, too. We have proven it CAN be done, now we must now prove WHY it is done.
“Going where man has gone before” makes a lousy battle cry.
