The Everything Machine by Bentz Gabe

Author:Bentz, Gabe
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi, pdf
Published: 2016-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

Space

Sending a rocket to space is expensive. What is even more expensive is putting a human in that rocket. When every pound matters, tons of life support and room to move really eat into a budget. Robots, on the other hand, can fit inside a vacuum- sealed box and never even feel stiff on the way out.

NASA has been using robots to explore space primarily because of the cost basis just introduced. Robots are also expendable and can sometimes operate longer than humans. The Voyager probe is a robot which is likely going to continue its mission for another few decades beyond the solar system.

When discussing space robots is it is almost entirely a comparison to humans. Humans are more discerning, robots are more efficient. Humans get more public interest, robots return more data. The argument has raged for years about whether exploration should be done by man or machine. The result has come to be a symbiotic system where robots blaze the trail and make sure that a pitfall is not waiting around the corner for the man. Robots are the scouts of space studying as much as possible with their limited capabilities.

The pinnacle of space robots today is likely the Curiosity rover on Mars. This six wheeled SUV-sized artificial explorer is powered by a small nuclear reactor and was meant to search for life on Mars.

Curiosity was lowered to Mars at landing by a crane that used its rockets to hover above the Martian surface as it lowered the rover to the ground. Once landed, Curiosity unfolded its sensor studded head and looked around the Martian landscape. Curiosity has several labs built inside of its body which allow it to analyze Martian dirt for biological materials.

Curiosity is very much like most drones today. It has very limited intelligence. In fact it has almost no intelligence. Every one of its actions is controlled from Earth by a group of NASA engineers. The engineers steer it and tell it where to drill. Really all the robot does is make sure that it does not press too hard on the drill and break a bit. The robot is basically just a safeguard against human error.

Robots have dominated space exploration for several decades since the Moon missions. They have been the only explorers beyond Earth orbit. But today companies such as SpaceX and even plans by NASA are working to put people on Mars. In this situation robots will shift from being exploders to construction workers. Autonomous machines will have to be created which can clear and build space for the astronauts and colonists to land and live in. And as those people arrive the robots will work side by side with the people in order to grow the colony and even someday terraform Mars.

But robots will likely continue to be the trailblazers in space. Their lower cost and greater expendability makes them the ideal candidates. Also, since robots can be made to live in any environment they have the ability to explore so much more.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.