
Robots vs. Humans: Who Should Explore Space?
Unmanned spacecraft are exploring the solar system more cheaply and effectively than astronauts are. Astronaut explorers can perform science in space that robots cannot.
Paul D. Spudisis a staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. He earned his Ph.D. in geology from Arizona State University in 1982 and worked for the U.S. Geological Survey's astrogeology branch until 1990. His research has focused on the moon's geologic history and on volcanism and impact cratering on the planets. He has served on numerous committees advising NASA on exploration strategies and is the author of The Once and Future Moon (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996).
Unmanned spacecraft are exploring the solar system more cheaply and effectively than astronauts are. Astronaut explorers can perform science in space that robots cannot.
Recent lunar missions have shown that there is still much to learn about Earth's closest neighbor
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