When I was in college at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, I worked at a catering company. One of the biggest thrills I had in my life came when I was working a party at the National Air and Space Museum. I had the opportunity to clear the glasses of Senator John Glenn of Ohio, a childhood hero of mine. Getting that close to a famous astronaut was a thrill for me, as I have always wanted to travel in space, and Glenn, Armstrong, Aldrin and the rest were idols to me when I was growing up. Part of me wonders if children today feel the same way about the Curiosity Rover. And that curiosity (pardon the pun) gets at the crux of a new dilemma for NASA’s future: whether to invest its precious budget in humans or robots.
There is no denying how significant the Curiosity mission was for the future of NASA and space exploration. There’s also no denying the role that human astronauts, from the Mercury missions to the Space Shuttle voyages, have played in the history of space travel. But NASA is working on a fixed budget and it needs to decide what role humans will play in the future and what tasks are better suited to robots.
While approximately $5 billion of the agency’s proposed $17.7 billion 2013 budget will be dedicated to robotic science and development, many NASA executives feel that the space program will need to rely on human/robot collaboration as it moves forward. "The human-robotic interface is going to be key to our success now and in our future," said Robert Cabana, director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "You've seen the robotic devices we use to support astronauts in space. It's absolutely phenomenal... Read More
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