Above: "Natives" by Pat
Rawlings; © 1998 by NASA
What
are the contributions of humans in space
as researchers, as explorers, as motivators?
As a space shuttle astronaut
who's operated space, Earth, and life
science experiments aboard the shuttle,
I've had the chance to reflect on what
contributions humans can make to the future
exploration of space.
My new astronaut candidate
class chose as its patch in 1990 an emblem
that included the embroidered images of
the Moon and Mars. My group thought we
would have the opportunity to make the
initial steps in that direction within
the decade.
I now think, after Columbia's
loss, that we as a nation owe the astronauts
of today a purpose great enough to justify
the risk they take each time they strap
into the shuttle or begin a tour aboard
ISS.
Americans for two centuries
have been aware of their nation's pioneering
role as explorers, and the importance
of exploration to posterity. Merriwether
Lewis, preparing to lead the Corps of
Discovery westward into the unknown from
Ft. Mandan, made this journal entry on
7 April 1805:
Humans are natural explorers.
We bring unique, irreplaceable qualities
to our quest for new knowledge and resources:
Experience
and insight: Only humans can
tackle the complex questions posed by
our efforts to explore the solar system.
Mars, for example, may conceal important
clues about the origin of life. Only human
field explorers can make decisions on
where to search for them, how to get at
those interesting sites, and how to extract
the data efficiently, whether by drill,
shovel, or hammer. Humans are several
hundred times more efficient than robotic
explorers, based on our Apollo lunar surface
experience.
Only human explorers on
the surface of Mars, the asteroids, or
the Moon can deliver definitive results
on an acceptable human time scale. In
other words, most of us would like to
see the results of our exploration efforts
within the span of a generation or less.
We can expect that the timely delivery
of substantive results is also important
to the policy-makers that authorize and
fund the exploration program. Human explorers,
with their experience and decision-making
skills, can cut through the Gordian knot
of time and distance that will always
constrain our robotic efforts.
Flexibility:
The flexibility of human beings in unpredictable
situations is one of the keys to success
in scientific exploration. Only humans
are capable of dealing effectively with
the array of things that can - and do
- go wrong. We can recall many examples:
the repair of the Apollo 17 lunar rover,
shuttle-based satellite repair, HST fixes
and upgrades, and the quick repair of
the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory high-gain
antenna (compare with the Galileo spacecraft's
broken antenna, which nearly crippled
that mission). I've seen this flexibility
and talent personally aboard the space
shuttle. Humans bring skills in problem
recognition, prioritization, and timely
reaction, along with the innate mechanical
capabilities to repair broken systems.
Confidence:
Humans increase the odds of mission success.
When a mission must succeed (HST repair,
Skylab salvage, Salyut recovery, etc.)
human adaptability and informed decision-making
can overcome nearly any technical shortcoming.
The (often unforeseen) demand for such
skills can offset the costs of bringing
astronauts along.
On Earth, we allot critical
tasks to humans as a matter of common
sense; e.g. autopilots don't land -747s
with hundreds of passengers aboard. The
Columbia accident scenario might have
had a very different outcome if the crew
had known of the damage to their spacecraft
and were able to react. If, for example,
we one day must deflect an Earth-approaching
asteroid, we will probably demand on-scene
human involvement to oversee critical
mission functions and assure success.
Communication:
We humans are both cursed and blessed
with active imaginations. We naturally
think of ourselves as one day being present
on many solar system bodies. Our space
voyages to date teach us that only humans
on-scene can adequately convey the experience
to fellow humans back home, answering
the (to us) natural question, "What
is it like to be there?"
We humans don't "know"
a physical locale - don't understand it
as a "place" - until we go there
physically and report back to our fellow
humans on Earth. Compare our sense of
the Moon as a place, derived from Apollo,
with the understanding furnished only
by the Russian Luna missions. This urge
to go and experience a place for ourselves
is so fundamental to our character that
private space travel, or space tourism,
is likely to attract a large market once
it becomes affordable.
Similarly, sending our representatives
to those most interesting solar system
locations can give the rest of us back
on Earth that same thrill of discovery.
Columnist Jonah Goldberg wrote in 2002: