Reviews
Who will explore space? Romantics,
Robots in Space:
Technology,
Evolution and
Interplanetary
Travel
Roger D Launius and
Howard E McCurdy,
2008, Johns
Hopkins University
Press, £23.50, hbk,
9780801887086.
There are not many situations where NASA
can be considered romantic, but the debate
over whether humans or robots should take
the primary role in space exploration is one of
them. In Robots in Space, Roger D Launius and
Howard E McCurdy tackle the history of space
exploration and options available for the future.
They place NASA firmly alongside the romantic “humanity seeding the stars” approach, as
opposed to the position taken by scientists now
reaping the rewards of robotic exploration,
that increasingly autonomous machines are the
practical – and cheap – way to go. The human/
robot spaceflight debate is topical and of great
significance for future directions of national
and international science, and Robots in Space
is a thought-provoking addition to the literature, notable for its emphasis on the interaction
between science and culture. The conclusion,
essentially, is that neither will do in the long
term; we will need another way to explore space
beyond our immediate neighbourhood.
Launius and McCurdy start by looking at the
history of spaceflight, then consider in detail
how we have achieved what we have managed so far, successes, failures and dead-ends
included. Their treatment is unusual – and especially enjoyable – because it draws on concepts
and ideas from popular culture, especially history and science fiction, as well as the scientific
literature and reminiscences from the people
involved. Their careful consideration of key ideas
expressed in fiction broadens out the debate
to include such questions as how the popular
view of space exploration might change when
we have a recognizable picture of a habitable,
Earth-like planet. The solid base in science and
technology is evident, not least in the extensive
and well-referenced notes, but this book stands
out because of its lively and entertaining style,
packed with telling anecdotes and quotations.
The spaceflight debate splits enthusiasts for
exploration into two camps: those who deem
human involvement in space essential, possibly using robots, and those who see partly or
wholly autonomous machines as the only successful route – in other words, between those
who envisage robots as servants, and those aim5.36
If we ever detect a habitable Earth-like planet (such as the artist’s impression above), will we be able to afford to
ing for robots as colleagues. Humans would be
involved in the second option, of course, but
they would remain on Earth. Scientific opinion is divided: the increasingly sophisticated
instruments currently exploring the solar system highlight the success of enlisting robots as
colleagues, but there are problems. The human
history of exploration argues that the desire to
see new worlds and the glamour and excitement
of people in space is a big motivator for exploration, not least as a means of encouraging young
people to make careers in science and technology. And we need enthusiasm, because however
we do it, space exploration costs money. The
human/robot debate has sharpened because of
the money involved: Launius and McCurdy suggest that using people in space costs something
like ten times as much as sending the machinery
there on its own. Robots in Space makes the
case for a radical compromise, because they see
neither approach working for any sort of complex exploration beyond the Moon and Mars.
They argue that it will take evolution, hybridization of humans and machines, or who knows
what, to reach the stars.
Human intervention
Launius and McCurdy have plenty of examples
in favour of each approach. The landings of the
Apollo lunar modules were designed to be essentially automatic, yet all of them needed human
intervention in the end. Despite the considerable
sophistication and success of robotic missions,
from Cassini-Huygens to the Spitzer Space Telescope, there is one big problem with managing
such machinery remotely, and that is the time
taken to communicate. Many robotic spacecraft
have landed successfully on solar system bodies,
yet many have also failed. Mars Polar Lander,
for example, crashed because of software problems that a human controller could have overridden, had any been handy.
The authors conclude that the designers of
robotic spacecraft will have to design systems
A&G • October 2008 • Vol. 49
Reviews
realists or neither…
explore it? And if we can, should we send robots or humans – or both – to visit this exciting new environment? (Kjell Ove Storvik/AMASE)
that are truly autonomous. Robot colleagues
would have to make all the decisions, big and
small, whatever they find and however far
the region they are exploring differs from the
expectations of mission designers. That means
complex machines that are much more like people, and that will need power, protection from
radiation and temperature extremes in much the
same ways as people do.
These problems are magnified for exploration
outside our solar system, and new problems are
added, not least our lack of any sort of propulsion
system that could achieve the speeds required at
the same time as carrying anything other than
fuel. Here again the authors consider some of
“Evolution in new ways,
hybrids of machines and
humans, and even back-up
consciousnesses might allow
humans to race to the stars.”
A&G • October 2008 • Vol. 49 the solutions offered in science fiction, but do so
quantitatively. It becomes clear that any sort of
utopian ideal, such as generation ships carrying
humans to a new and better home, is out with
the technology we can envisage today. Instead,
we have to hope for completely new ideas and
technologies, and it is likely that they won’t
come from the space exploration field. Evolution
in new ways, hybrids of machines and humans,
and even back-up consciousnesses might allow
humans to reach the stars, but nothing we can
currently hope to design or build will do so.
This may not seem an optimistic conclusion, but this is a very optimistic book, mainly
because of the over-optimism of so many proponents of space exploration so far. The lively
overview of the field that the authors provide
shows the abundance of ingenuity applied to
the problems so far – ingenuity that often leads
to valuable new techniques and technologies.
But sometimes that same boundless optimism
takes people off the planet in entirely the wrong
way. Take Werner von Braun, who developed
the Saturn rockets that took the Apollo missions
to the Moon. In the 1950s he suggested, briefly,
that these same rockets would be a practical
means of troop transport.
While Launius and McCurdy’s book is an
entertaining overview of space exploration so
far, what makes it special is the authors’ awareness of the interaction between science and culture. They offer an informed examination of
ideas arising from science fiction, but they also
consider how future scientific advances may in
turn affect our culture, and vice versa. Taking
the impact of the images of Earth from space
brought back by Apollo astronauts as a model,
they ponder the impact of the first recognizable
image of a habitable, Earth-like planet on our
culture. Would an actual new world to explore
make enough of a difference to the public perception of the value of interstellar exploration
that countries would be prepared to pay for it?
Sue Bowler
5.37
Reviews
Websites
Look here for
teaching resources
The RAS has established a searchable
database of reputable websites offering
teaching resources. It is easy to search by
topic, or by age of children, and detailed
curriculum information is also given where
appropriate. There are quick links to
many established sites, such as Astronomy
Picture of the Day, and robotic telescopes,
as well as more varied sites that would
appeal to particular ages.
Some sites are general information
sources, while others provide specific tasks,
lesson plans etc. For example, the National
Schools Observatory offers Quasar Quest,
based on a 2005 event, which allows
students aged 14–16 or 16+ to make
measurements of the brightness of a quasar
using downloaded data and NSO software.
Final results can be compared with those
submitted by other schools.
http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/obs/ulab/
blaz05
There is also software that could allow
teachers to develop their own lessons, such
as Stellarium, which allows a projection of
the night sky in a darkened room.
http://www.stellarium.org
There is also a link to Celestia, a more
complex planetarium programme.
Dead ends and new directions
The Haunted
Observatory:
Curiosities from
the Astronomer’s
Cabinet
Richard Baum, 2007,
Prometheus, $28,
hbk, 9781591025122.
This is a book about
oddities in astronomy:
those observations and
ideas that have caught the attention of astronomers because they don’t fit, in some way or
another. These curiosities have led to discoveries – but also to a few scientific dead ends.
Richard Baum’s step-by-step accounts of these
astronomical byways cover some famous historical steps forward, such as the excitement
of the discoveries of Neptune and Uranus. His
careful accounts make clear that, while some
of the anomalies led to significant advances in
astronomical thought, others set off wild goosechases based on striking but often misunderstood observations, often at the very limits of
technical capabilities of the time.
Take the surface of Venus, for example, considered mountainous by many observers in the
19th century. The idea arose from irregularities
in its shape, which were ascribed to immense
Superhistory
http://www.shatters.net/celestia/index.html
Some of the resources are tailored to
areas likely to interest young people. For
example, you can measure the stretchiness
of sweets at the Institute of Physics’
Practical Physics site, among other detailed
experiment guides, or get details of a
demonstration of mantle convection using
golden syrup and a biscuit at the Joint
Earth Education Initiative site.
http://www.rsc.org/education/teachers/learnnet/
jesei/index2.htm
You can even find songs on astronomy
themes at Astrocapella. The songs
themselves, lyrics and links are available
at the website, including The Swift Song
(about the gamma-ray burst satellite), HST
Bop and High Energy Groove, sample
lyrics: “The X-ray sky isn’t calm and quiet,
It’s more like a rockin’ high energy riot.”
This won’t go down well in every class and,
indeed, runs the risk of further damaging
the standing of science teachers in the
merciless eyes of their teenage students. But
if Tom Lehrer can sing about chemistry,
then acapella astronomy is worth a try.
http://www.astrocappella.com
5.38
Supercontinent: Ten
Billion Years in the
Life of the Planet
Ted Nield, Granta,
£8.99, pbk,
9781847080417.
History of another sort
is a thread in Super­
continent – the geological concept of deep
time is the backdrop to
the cycle of continental assembly and separation
that took us from Gondwana and Pangaea to our
current geography. Deep time is rather like deep
space: both involve the casual manipulation of
immense numbers – age and distance respectively
– that seem to bear little relation to ordinary life.
But Supercontinent shows how thinking on the
billion-year scale is essential to understand how
the Earth, its continents, oceans, atmosphere
and climate work, now and in the future. At
its core is the concept of the repeated coming
together, then separation of the continents, and
how this cycle has driven other major changes in
the history of the Earth – including possibly the
origin of complex life and, ultimately, us.
Nield starts with the future, telling of three
mountain ranges, notably near the south pole.
This same effect was visible in the crescent
Moon, so why not on the crescent Venus?
Further observations picked out pale caps at
the poles, adding towering cliffs of ice to the
overall picture. Later, better observations with
improved instruments proved that the Himalayas of Venus were figments of the imagination,
the planet being shrouded in a thick, essentially
opaque atmosphere (as suggested by Huygens,
in fact). It is a tribute to the power of an appealing idea, in the face of limited information, that
so much effort was expended in observing and
calculating the details of these features. Yet that
effort was not wasted: opposition to the idea
spurred William Herschel to make systematic
observations of the planet, for example, and one
of the key mountain-spotters, Johann Schröter,
observed venusian twilight, establishing that
the planet had a thick atmosphere.
Baum has drawn together a wealth of information on these astronomical curiosities, so the
reader can understand both the scientific reasoning and the scientific context. Astronomers
of all types will find food for thought among
the historical nuggets among its pages. This is
an excellent introduction to the development of
ideas in astronomy, aided by its extensive and
discursive list of references, and brief glossary.
possible supercontinents that could form around
250 million years from now. He then steps into
the past to show how and why earth scientists
came to recognize and understand the movements of the continents. The history is concise
and snappily written, touching on the key scientific developments and, especially, those individuals who made a difference and are still making
a difference. The cast of characters includes
great field geologists, explorers, refugees, and
original thinkers – it also involves Madame Blavatsky, Lewis Caroll and lemurs. But this is not
just history, for much of Supercontinent focuses
on current ideas about the complexities of the
Earth as a whole, and how the simple matter of
cooling gives rise to shifting continents and our
complex climate. The origin of life comes in via
an uncanny coincidence in time between a great
glaciation (Snowball Earth) and the first appearance of complex life on Earth. All the signs are
that a supercontinent assembled in just the right
place triggered the glaciation.
Supercontinent is an enjoyable read, with Nield
tracing a clear path through the complex mesh
of 19th and 20th century science in particular,
giving the reader context without overwhelming
detail. His informed and often amused commentary keeps the story alive – and the book makes
it clear that the Earth is a far more complex and
dynamic place than it appears on the surface.
A&G • October 2008 • Vol. 49