[ExI] the right stuff

[Adrian Tymes]

On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 12:07 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> For any reasonably large payload, the cost is always going to be roughly
> proportional to the mass.  If the payload is very small, the cost per unit
> mass goes crazy high as we found out, unless you can use a getaway special.

Right.  So, improve engine technology (ion thrusters, anyone?) until "several
humans and associated life support" counts as "very small" relative to the
performance you're getting.

> But I can think of only one logical space mission left for humans: they
> would go into Mars synchronous orbit and guide semi-autonomous robots on the
> surface.

I can think of more than that, though I will agree that robots can do more than
they are currently used for.