[ExI] Planetary exploration by telepresence

[Giulio Prisco]

This is a good paper, but is landing and staying for a while on, say,
Mars, really that more expensive than sending people to Mars orbit to
deploy and operate robots?

Perhaps yes, if we are obsessed about safety. But I would be happy to
volunteer for a Mars mission even if the probability to die there is
50%. Well, I'm too old for that anyway, but I'm sure there are plenty
of young, fit and qualified people who think that way.

On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 1:49 AM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
> "Exploration telepresence" may virtually get people to Mars
> Ben Coxworth June 22, 2017
>
> <http://newatlas.com/exploration-telepresence/50170/>
>
> Quote:
>
> In a typical scenario, astronauts would travel to another planet, but
> they wouldn't go down to its surface. Instead they would park their
> ship in orbit around the planet, then send down telepresence robots.
> The astronauts would be remotely controlling the robots from the ship,
> seeing through their cameras and controlling their manipulator arms as
> if they were there themselves. Because of the short transmission
> distance involved, the communications lag would only be a fraction of
> a second.
>
> When the mission was over, the robots would simply be left behind.
> ------------------
>
> This could be a useful interim method before self-controlled AI robots
> are developed. And before a permanent base is established with all the
> expensive gear needed to support humans.
>
>
> BillK
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