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Life in the Universe pp 275–286Cite as

Optimizing Space Exploration

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Abstract

Both robotic and human missions into space are necessary for an effective program of space exploration. For the nations that have sent humans into space (Russia, China, and the United States) the competition for limited budgets between human and robotic exploratory strategies is inevitable. Yet, the two strategies are complimentary and mutually supportive. Robotic missions are much cheaper than human missions. A major breakthrough in cost are so-called CubeSats—small spacecrafts generally of 10 × 10 × 10 cm dimensions with scaled-down miniaturized payloads (Loff and Dunbar 2017). Robotic missions will remain the best if not only way to investigate difficult to reach planetary bodies and to explore hostile environments such as the radiation-intense surfaces of the Jovian moons. Also, any initial mission to a planetary body will have to be robotic to understand the planetary environments, avoid unnecessary risks, and conduct space exploration in a cost-efficient way. However, eventually human missions are warranted on philosophical grounds and necessary on practical grounds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Dirk Schulze-Makuch

  2. University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA

    Louis N. Irwin

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Schulze-Makuch, D., Irwin, L.N. (2018). Optimizing Space Exploration. In: Life in the Universe. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97658-7_16

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