Yes, but... The cost of those two weeks for a human and a four-wheeler on Mars would be about ten times the cost of the last two years of the rovers. Also bear in mind that the cost of the two rovers is (in constant dollars) a fraction of what we spent landing the two Vikings on Mars in 1976. What needs to be investigated are the types of science that can _only_ be done by humans. Is there such a thing? Seth -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Wiggins Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 2:20 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Happy New Year (belated) On 02 Jan 2008, at 19:29, Gary Vardon wrote:
I think that robotic probes are a better use of funds and much more likely to succeed.
I agree that robotic exploration has its place but during a recent NASA training session I participated in someone from NASA's Mars Exploration program was asked about the human vs. machine debate. He noted that as great as the two current Mars rovers have performed, a human with a 4 wheeler and some basic equipment could do all the rovers have done in the years they've been there and more "in about 2 weeks". patrick