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[::..about this blog..::]
"...all these worlds..." is a blog by David Hitt. It covers space exploration, decent science fiction, humor (by its very nature), and whatever else I happen to find cool. (Formerly "You Must Fight The Bear")
Name: David Hitt About Me: Inspiring the next generation of explorers... See my complete profile
[::..disclaimer..::]
The opinions expressed on this page are those of the author, and very likely no one else.
[::..archive..::]
:: Wednesday, December 31, 2003 ::
The Greatest Computer
The success of probes such as the Mars Pathfinder mission has often been pointed to as an arguement that manned spaceflight is unnecessary--it's cheaper and safer to just send robots through the Solar System, while we stay home. In an editorial yesterday, the Houston Chronicles writes something I've also been saying for the past few days, which is that, conversely, missions like Beagle 2 show the need for manned exploration. To use an example they don't, if Apollo 11 had been an unmanned mission, it very likely would have been a complete failure. The landing site, picked after lengthy research to find an ideal location, turned out to be unusable, littered with boulders that would have made trying to touch down safely extremely difficult, if not impossible. Neil Armstrong, piloting the LM, was able to see the problem and react, flying the craft to a safer spot, setting down with only seconds of fuel left. Left to a pre-programmed machine, Apollo 11 would likely have gone the way of so many other unsuccesful robot probes.