AI and robotics will aid, not end, human space exploration

While the world still basks in the triumph of the Artemis II mission and looks forward to further triumphs to come, including the eventual next moon landing, a lunar base, and expeditions to Mars, a few people are not as impressed as everyone else.

Those people include Martin Rees — the astronomer royal and a former president of the Royal Society — and Donald Goldsmith, an astrophysicist and science communicator. Rees and Goldsmith have taken to the United Kingdom-based Guardian to express their disdain for human spaceflight.

Their contention is that human space exploration, which they admit has enormous benefits, is simply too expensive and too dangerous. They contend that advances in AI, robotics, and electronics will allow Earth to explore and even commercially exploit other worlds such as the moon and Mars with just machines.

In their vision of a future, a moon base that is a center of science and commerce would not be staffed by astronauts. It would consist of Hal 9000 running a staff of C-3P0s and R2-D2s, with maybe a few Commander Datas, doing everything from lunar mining to maintaining a far side radio telescope.

The fears some harbor that AI and robots will replace human beings on Earth are the fondest hope of Rees and Goldsmith for space. Fortunately, humans will not be replaced either on Earth or in space. It turns out that the new technology of AI paired with robotics will actually enhance human capacity to do useful things.

According to the Harvard Business Review, AI, despite eliminating some jobs, is creating many new........

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