The dispute between NASA’s Ames and Marshall centers over who gets to manage the automated exploration of Earth’s Moon begs a question. We plan to send human scientists there soon, and NASA’s budget is stretched beyond the breaking point, so why are we funding any large automated missions to the Moon? All of the major outstanding questions involving prospecting for exploitable resources and understanding lunar geology require activities in which human miners, geologists and engineers are far better and more efficient than any foreseeable robot.
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