Could robots really replace human astronauts?

On the eve of Christmas, an autonomous spacecraft flew behind the sun, before any man-made object. Surifing through the atmosphere, NASA’s Parker Solar probe was on a mission to learn more about the sun, including how it affects the space of the space on Earth.

It was a historic moment for humanity-but without any human being incorporated directly, because the spacecraft excluded its pre-programmed tasks from itself, as it flew from behind the Sun, which had no communication with the Earth.

Robotic investigations have been sent to the solar system for the last six decades, which are impossible for humans. During its 10-day flybParker Solar Investigation experienced a temperature of 1000C.

But the success of these autonomous spacecraft – together with the rise of new advanced artificial intelligence – raises the question of what a human being can play in future space exploration.

Some scientists ask whether human astronauts need or not.

“Robots are developing rapidly, and the matter of sending humans is weakening at all times,” says Britain’s astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rece. “I don’t think any taxpayer’s money should be used to send humans into space.”

He also indicates risk to humans.

“The only case of sending humans [there] As an adventure work, there is an experience for rich people, and it should be funded privately, “he argues.

Andrew Quotes, a physicist of the University College London, agree. “For severe space exploration, I like robotics,” they say. ,[They] Go a lot and do more things. ,

They are even cheap than humans, they argue. “And as AI moves forward, robots can be clever and clever.”

But what does it mean for future generations of debutant astronauts – and of course there are some tasks that humans can do in space but which robots, although advanced, never done?

The robotic spacecraft has visited every planet in the solar system, as well as many asteroids and comets, but humans have gone to only two destinations: Earth’s orbit and Moon.

Overall, around 700 people have gone to space, as soon as possible in 1961, when Yuri Gagarin from the then Soviet Union became the first cosmic explorer. Most of them are in the orbit (revolving the Earth) or suborbit (US company Blue Origin’s new shapeard rockets such as small vertical hops in small vertical hops in space on vehicles such as the new Shepard rockets.

“Pesties will always be a reason that we have humans in space,” Dr. Rice University, Texas, a biologist Dr. Kelly Venorsmith is called and a city co-writer on Mars. “It seems that it is a great way to show that your political system is effective and your people are fantastic.”

But different from a congenital will, or a sense of prestige, humans also do research and experiments in the Earth’s orbit, such as at the international space station, and their use to pursue science.

Robots can contribute to scientific research that has the ability to travel to inhuman locations for humans, where they can use equipment to check and examine the atmosphere and surfaces.

“Humans are more versatile and we get faster goods than a robot, but we are really difficult and expensive to keep in space,” Dr. Calls Venorsmith.

In his 2024 Booker Award winning novel Orbital, author Samantha Harvey said it more lyrically: “A robot has no need for hydration, nutrients, emissions, sleep … it wants and does not ask for anything.”

But there are downside. Many robots are slow and arranged-on Mars for example, rovers (remote-controlled motor vehicles) barely 0.1Mph with a trundant.

“AI can beat humans in chess, but does it mean they will be able to defeat humans in search of the atmosphere?” A planetary scientist at the University of London, Dr. Ian asks Crooford. “I don’t think we know.”

However, he believes that the AI ​​algorithm may enable the rovers to “more efficient”.

Technology can play a role in complementing human space travel by freeing astronauts from certain tasks to allow them to focus on more important research.

,[AI could be used to] Automatic tasks to automatically, “Dr. Kiri Wagstoff, a computer and planetary scientist in the US, explains who first worked in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.” On the surface of a planet, humans get tired and focus on, but there will be no machines. ,

The challenge is that a large amount of power is required to operate systems like large language model (LLM), which can understand and generate human language by processing huge amounts of text data. “We are not at the point of being able to run an LLM on an Mars rover,” Dr. Vagstaf says.

“Rovers’ processors run at about tenth [of the speed] In your smartphone ” – means that they are unable to face the intense demands of running LLM.

Complex human machines with robotic weapons and organs are another form of technology that can take basic functions and functions in space, especially because they mimic the physical abilities of humans more closely.

NASA’s Vulkari Robot was designed by Johnson Space Center to compete in the 2013 robotics challenge trial. The weight of 300LB and standing on 6ft2in, it does not look unlike the star wars stomatropper, but it is one of the increasing number of machines like humans with supernatural abilities.

Long before the construction of Vulkari, NASA Robonot The first Humanoid robot designed for use in space was the tasks that were done otherwise by humans.

Its particularly designed hands meant that it could use the same devices similar to astronauts and carry objects as complex, delicate functions such as greedy or flicing switches, which were very challenging for other robotic systems.

In 2011, a latter model of Robonott was flown at the International Space Station on Space Shuttle Discovery, where it helped in maintenance and assembly.

“If we need to change a component or clean a solar panel, we can do that robotic,” Dr. Shaun Azimi says, under the leadership of Dexterus robotics team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas. “We see the robot as a way to secure these houses when humans are not around.”

They argue that robots can be useful, not to change human explorers but to work with them.

Some robots are already working on other planets without humans, sometimes taking decisions on their own. For example, NASA’s curiosity is the rover Explore On Mars, a region called Gayle Craer and autonomally demonstrates some of its science without human input.

“You can direct the rover to take pictures of a scene, look for rocks that can fit the priorities of science for the mission, and then autonomally set their laser on the target,” Dr. Vagstaf says.

“It can read a particular rock and send it back to Earth while humans are still sleeping.”

But Rovers’ capabilities like curiosity are limited by their slow pace. And there is something else they cannot compete. That is, humans have an additional bonus to inspire people on earth that cannot do machines.

“Inspiration is something that is abstract,” is the argument of pro coat.

Laroy Chiao, a retired NASA astronaut, who went to NASA’s Space Shuttle and three flights in space at the International Space Station in the 1990s and 2000s. “Man is related when humans are doing something.

“The general public is excited about robotic missions. But I would expect the first human on Mars to be bigger than the first moon landing.”

Since December 1972, humans have not seen ahead of the Earth’s orbit, when the final Apollo mission visited the moon. NASA is hoping to return humans in this decade with its Artemis program.

Next crew mission In 2026, four astronauts around the moon will see flying. Another mission prescribed for 2027, NASA’s astronauts will see the land on the surface of the moon.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Space Agency also wants to send astronauts on the moon.

Elone Musk, CEO of US company SpaceX, has its own plans related to space. He has said that his long -term plan is to build a colony on Mars, where humans could have done land,

His idea is to use Starship, a huge new vehicle that is developing their company, at a time to transport up to 100 people, with the objective to be there One million people on Mars in 20 years,

Dr. “Musk is arguing that we need to go to Mars because it can be a backup for humanity if something is frightening on Earth,” says Venorsmith. Explains the venersmith. “If you buy that argument, it is necessary to send humans into space.”

However, there are very unknown about living on Mars, including innumerable technical challenges that say it remains unresolved.

“Perhaps children may not develop in that environment,” she says. “There [are] Moral question [like this] That we do not have an answer.

“I think we should slow down.”

Lord Rise has its own vision, however, in which the discovery of human and robot can merge at the point that humans themselves are part-mashed to deal with the extreme environment. “I can imagine that they will use genetic modification, Siborg ad-on, and all similar techniques, to deal with a very hostile environment,” they say.

“We can have a new species that will be happy to live on Mars.”

Till then, however, humans are likely to continue their short steps in the universe, on the long -term treoden by robot explorers in front of them.

Top Image Credit: NASA

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