Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!rochester!dietz
From: dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: Space travel and the spirit of man
Message-ID: <1989Feb7.093222.6406@cs.rochester.edu>
Date: 7 Feb 89 14:32:22 GMT
References: <3225@vice.ICO.TEK.COM> <258@corpane.UUCP> <4239@drivax.DRI> <659@uceng.UC.EDU> <IXvVuBy00WB_43mYsp@andrew.cmu.edu>
Reply-To: dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz)
Organization: U of Rochester, CS Dept, Rochester, NY
Lines: 22

In article <IXvVuBy00WB_43mYsp@andrew.cmu.edu> rg20+@andrew.cmu.edu (Rick Francis Golembiewski) writes:

>>At present, manned ventures are (very roughly, I believe) ten times as
>>expensive as unmanned ventures in terms of data and benefits returned.

>Don't forget that manned flights provide some data NOT available from
>unmanned flights: How Humans can live/work in Space.  This is
>important, since EVENTUALLY (hopefully before I'm too old...) There
>will be a need for a good amount of human labour in space (cheap &
>adaptable, not perfect but it's been pretty economical, and it'de be
>cheaper to have a person instead of a bunch of specialized gadgets)

Experience gained by having people work in space is only worthwhile if
there is some prospect of profitably applying it in the reasonably
near future.  If we must wait too long to apply it, it isn't worth it,
since the effective rate of return on the research investment is too
low.  Current manned activities in space seem to me to make sense only
if we can expect launch costs to come down a LOT in the next decade or
so.  Sorry, but I don't see that happening, at least not in this country.

	Paul F. Dietz
	dietz@cs.rochester.edu