AHC/WI: Robots Explore Space Instead of Astronauts

Delta Force

Banned
The United States had a major lead over the Soviet Union in computers and could afford to spend far more money on the space race if required. A robotic space program would probably be less expensive though, even in the 1960s, and it would of course pose no risk of harming astronauts. Perhaps it would continue into the 1970s with advanced missions (possibly including sample return) being launched to Mars and Venus and the original Interplanetary Grand Tour proposal being conducted.

Children could aspire to be the engineer or scientist who built the spacecraft and studied its information, and they might find computers more interesting than rockets. There would probably still be astronauts for low Earth orbit too, it's just that beyond that everything would be robotic. Perhaps the role of pilot and astronaut might merge in the popular imagination, at least for real life astronauts as opposed to those from science fiction.

I'm wondering how plausible this would be as a form of space exploration. Also, how would this impact NASA spinoffs and the like? Would the spinoffs be more related to the physical sciences and industrial and computing applications without such a focus on human health and survival in space?
 

Delta Force

Banned
Isn't this just OTL? :confused:

Not really. The United States landed people on the Moon instead of robots (the Soviets did a few successful robotic missions), but even ignoring that there have been only a few major missions since the 1970s. There could be robotic missions launched to Venus and to conduct sample return missions on Mars, for example.
 

Ian_W

Banned
Not really. The United States landed people on the Moon instead of robots (the Soviets did a few successful robotic missions), but even ignoring that there have been only a few major missions since the 1970s. There could be robotic missions launched to Venus and to conduct sample return missions on Mars, for example.

No, it is the OTL.

At the end of the day, people just dont care about robots.
 
Venus proved to be pretty tough, even with remote probes (The Soviets' "Venera" series proved that, no probe lasted much more than a couple of hours, and most much less).
 
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The United States had a major lead over the Soviet Union in computers and could afford to spend far more money on the space race if required. A robotic space program would probably be less expensive though, even in the 1960s, and it would of course pose no risk of harming astronauts. Perhaps it would continue into the 1970s with advanced missions (possibly including sample return) being launched to Mars and Venus and the original Interplanetary Grand Tour proposal being conducted.

Children could aspire to be the engineer or scientist who built the spacecraft and studied its information, and they might find computers more interesting than rockets. There would probably still be astronauts for low Earth orbit too, it's just that beyond that everything would be robotic. Perhaps the role of pilot and astronaut might merge in the popular imagination, at least for real life astronauts as opposed to those from science fiction.

I'm wondering how plausible this would be as a form of space exploration. Also, how would this impact NASA spinoffs and the like? Would the spinoffs be more related to the physical sciences and industrial and computing applications without such a focus on human health and survival in space?

"People" in space was the initial draw because people can relate to people. Not so much machines and especially early robotic probes. Seriously, look at the pictures returned from most spacecraft up till the mid-70s and you'd be hard pressed to be "impressed" with the quality. (On the other hand it's the basis of the whole "NASA-et-al are HIDING the truth from us!" business which wouldn't have a leg to stand on without early, low-res photos to exploit)

In reality it wasn't till the mid-to-late 60s that automation began to move ahead far enough to be reliable enough to not require people to attend to it. By then the whole emphasis of the "space-race" was on the manned missions and automated missions were regulated to mostly supporting those missions. We would and still will/would be better served with a more balance robotic/manned program but that's not an easy thing to "sell" despite public interest in robotic mission results over manned mission results. People STILL relate better with people after all :)

Randy
 
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