The Space Robot Revolution: Will humans ever explore space again?

Robots! What do they remind you of? The word might bring back, at a rapid rate, memories of hundreds of different robots you have seen in cartoons and science fiction movies.

These robots that you had seen or heard of were probably highly sophisticated and capable of doing virtually anything. With all the latest developments in science and technology, producing such robots has

become rather easy.

Machines which are programmed to perform tasks which are usually done by humans are called 'robots'.

At the inception of the concept of robots, they were thought of more as human-like mechanical devices, performing their tasks in a human-like manner. However, robots were developed to fulfil certain tasks which are generally considered too dull, delicate, dirty or dangerous for humans to do.

Why robots for space exploration?

Due to the high versatility and reliability of robots, they have today become a good option as substitutes for humans in space exploration. They make good space explorers since they do not need life support systems like humans do. It would save a lot of work as well as expenditure. You may remember reading in our previous article that an average space suit would cost $22 million. Therefore, using robots is going to be a great saving.

Apart from that, the most important thing is that risking human lives could be avoided. Many robots of the same model can be produced, but when it comes to humans, obviously, a fatal accident would always be a huge loss.

Robots are also preferred for such missions because they are easy to take care of and they adapt to unfriendly environments better than humans. Despite all these advantages, their uses have been quite limited since the level of artificial intelligence is still at a minimum and robots still need a lot of guidance from humans.

Types of space robots

Robots used in space exploration come in all shapes and sizes. They can be generally categorised as Rovers, Orbiters, Landers and Planetary Aerobots.

Rovers are mobile robots which move on the surface, providing highly detailed descriptions of the

surroundings. You might be familiar with the Sojourner Rover, which roamed about Mars.

Orbiters orbit a planet and cover large areas of land, and provide 'bird's eye views' of the planet. Landers basically land on a planet and, being stationary robots, conduct various tests. Sometimes, they act as a base for Rovers. The Pathfinder, which released the Sojourner on Mars, is one famous Lander.

What are Planetary Aerobots? Well, they are something that come in between Rovers and Orbiters. They travel closer to the ground than Orbiters and can capture more high resolution images than an Orbiter.There are also probes, atmospheric probes and robot arms as well.

Whatever the different types may be, since they still do not have perfect artificial intelligence, their operations should be controlled by real time systems despite the long distances the control signals must travel. Efforts are constantly being made to increase the level of intelligence of these robots.

Very soon, human space exploration would become history and humans would go out in to space just for fun; this is already becoming a trend now.

Latest robotic space missions

* Mars Express (ESA) with Beagle 2 Lander (UK) - 2003 onwards

* Mars Exploration Rovers (USA) - 2003 onwards

* Hayabusa (Japan) - 2003-2010

* Rosetta (ESA and France) - 2004-2015

* Messenger (USA) - 2004-2012

* Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (USA) - 2005-2010

* Venus Express (ESA) - 2005-2007

* New Horizons (USA) - 2006 onwards

* Lunar-A (Japan) - 2006-2007

* TrailBlazer (USA) - 2006-2007

Selene (Japan) - 2006-2007

Future robotic space missions

* Phoenix Mars Scout (USA)

Due to be launched this August. It will land in an ice-rich region of northern Mars in May 2008, and analyse excavated soil samples to determine whether the site was ever suitable for life.

* Mars Science Laboratory (USA)

Due to be launched in 2011. It will make a precision landing on Mars and explore the surface for a full Martian year or longer, searching for habitable environments and the basic building blocks of life.

* BepiColombo (ESA and Japan)

Due to be launched in April 2012. The Mercury Planetary Orbiter (ESA) will study the surface and internal composition of the planet. The Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Japan) will study the magnetosphere.

* ExoMars (ESA)

Due to be launched in 2013. It will characterise the biological environment on Mars, dropping a module and a Rover, in preparation for robotic and human explorations.

Aravinda Dassanayake