Monday, December 17, 2012

Future Mars missions: Can humans trump robots? | Redux

Future Mars missions: Can humans trump robots?

Spirit Launch
Spirit Launch by NASA on The Commons
License (according to Flickr): No known copyright restrictions
Excerpt:

How soon before humans hike around the landscape of Mars? Artist's idea illustrates crewmembers involved in sample analysis on Mars. / NASA

For decades scientists have backed the idea of sending robotics to accumulate Martian rocks and return them to Earth, a job that should be feasible well before humans crunch their boots into the distant dunes of the Red Planet. The idea of landing, scooping up, and hauling back to our world specimens from that interesting globe has actually long been promoted as the Holy Grail of prototype objectives by Mars exploration coordinators. This view was echoed in late September by a summary report from NASA's Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG). Former NASA program manager Orlando Figueroa chaired the blue-ribbon team of MPPG members that were tasked to reformulate the company 's Mars Exploration Program.

People:

Robert Zubrin

Overall Sentiment: -0.191987

Relevance: 0.285712

SentimentQuote
-0.363971"Absolutely not. Why should it be -- to confirm that the site contains no pathogens? That's ridiculous," responded Robert Zubrin, ...
-0.125928"The Martian surface can't support microbial life, because it can't support liquid water, and is bathed in ultraviolet," Zubrin told ...
-0.0828684"The Martian surface can't support microbial life, because it can't support liquid water, and is bathed in ultraviolet," Zubrin told SPACE.com. "If there is life on Mars, it is underground, in the water table, which the Mars sample return mission won't reach."
-0.320604"site prequalification" argument, Zubrin said ...
-0.0668461"If that argument is needed to justify Mars sample return, then that mission lacks justification, and should not be entertained," he added.
0"Maybe," Zubrin said. ...
0.0884994"Maybe," Zubrin said. "It is certainly possible to propose alternative robotic mission sets consisting of assortments of orbiters, rovers, aircraft, [and] surface networks ... that might produce a greater science return than the Mars sample return mission, much sooner."
0.0874409"However, that said, if the scientific community really believes that a robotic Mars sample is so valuable that it is worth sacrificing all the other kinds of science they could do with the money, then it is imperative that NASA develop the most efficient Mars sample return plan, to allow the sample to be obtained as quickly as possible and with the least possible expenditure of funds that could be used for other types of Mars exploration missions," Zubrin said. ...
0Zubrin said, proscribes use of "quadruple rendezvous" ...
0.0783285"In short, if we want to get a sample from Mars, we should devise a plan to get a sample from Mars in the simplest, cheapest, fastest, and most direct fashion possible, and not let the mission be made into a Christmas tree on which to hang all the ornaments in the bureaucracy's wish box of useless and costly multi-decade delays," Zubrin concluded. ...
Sentiment Stats:
  • Number of Quotes: 10
  • Aggregate Sentiment: -0.7059487
  • Mean: -0.07059487
  • Standard Deviation: 1.4142135623731

Kip Hodges

Overall Sentiment: 0.0180645

Relevance: 0.24378

SentimentQuote
-0.0199616"For the foreseeable future, most science done on planetary surfaces will be geological and it should be viewed primarily as a field science enterprise," said Kip Hodges, ...
-0.399672"It seems highly unlikely that sample return from Mars will involve large numbers of samples or large-sized samples," Hodges said, ...
-0.253116"It seems highly unlikely that sample return from Mars will involve large numbers of samples or large-sized samples," Hodges said, "so thoughtful collection of the best, most scientifically informative samples is critical if the greatest science return is the goal."
-0.195961"I don't know if a human mission, given the likely duration of a first mission, could return 'better' samples, but they could collect better samples faster for sure. Is that enough to justify a human mission to Mars? I think that's the wrong question to ask," Hodges said. ...
0"In contrast, we have nearly two centuries of experience with field geology on Earth," Hodges told ...
-0.142292"In contrast, we have nearly two centuries of experience with field geology on Earth," Hodges told SPACE.com. "My perspective is that we should use the lessons we have learned here to inform how to get the most out of our rare opportunities to do planetary field geology on other worlds."
Sentiment Stats:
  • Number of Quotes: 6
  • Aggregate Sentiment: -1.0110026
  • Mean: -0.16850043333333
  • Standard Deviation: 1.4142135623731

Dirk Schulze-Makuch

Overall Sentiment: 0

Relevance: 0.178178

SentimentQuote
0.166612"Our in-situ [on-the-spot] capabilities are so much better nowadays than, let's say during Viking lander (1970s) times," Schulze-Makuch said. ...
0.0325471"Our in-situ [on-the-spot] capabilities are so much better nowadays than, let's say during Viking lander (1970s) times," Schulze-Makuch said. "We could address with an in-situ mission whether microbial life is present on Mars."
0.0710739Schulze-Makuch said, "and the only thing that would be advantageous, in my view, is to get an absolute age scale via radioactive dating of Martian rocks," ...
0.0246943Schulze-Makuch said, "and the only thing that would be advantageous, in my view, is to get an absolute age scale via radioactive dating of Martian rocks," Schulze-Makuch said, "but from an astrobiological viewpoint, [an] in-situ mission would be better and cheaper."
0.138383"One of the greatest questions that needs to be solved before any human mission can be launched is whether there exists Martian life on Mars -- both for the protection of the astronauts on Mars and planetary protection considerations the other way around -- and this can be best addressed with in-situ robotic missions," Schulze-Makuch said. ...
Sentiment Stats:
  • Number of Quotes: 5
  • Aggregate Sentiment: 0.4333103
  • Mean: 0.08666206
  • Standard Deviation: 0

Orlando Figueroa

Overall Sentiment: 0.47365

Relevance: 0.14687

John Grunsfeld

Overall Sentiment: -0.294077

Relevance: 0.132282

Lagrange

Overall Sentiment: 0.0348716

Relevance: 0.128578

Leonard David

Overall Sentiment: 0

Relevance: 0.117763

Key:

  • Aggregate Sentiment is meant to be an indicator of an individual's overall sentiment.
  • The Mean is meant to be an indicator of an individual's average comment sentiment.
  • The Standard Deviation, when there are enough quotes, will indicate an individual's consistency of sentiment (i.e. a Standard Deviation of 0 would mean they were very consistent in their sentiment and 1 would mean they were very inconsistent).

Note that quote stats are likely to be meaningless beyond the aggregate score due to the tiny sample size. However, they are always provided just in case you find something useful there.

Additional Info:

Organization: NASA

Overall Sentiment: 0.146591

Relevance: 0.36356

Disambiguation: Company | GovernmentAgency | AirportOperator | AwardPresentingOrganization | SoftwareDeveloper | SpaceAgency | SpacecraftManufacturerReferences:
Site Meta

No comments:

Post a Comment