Miah Diaz

Robotic and Human Exploration and Their Connections

The discovery and exploration of space was and still is, popularly done through the
evolving space technology such as telescopes. But as the new inventions of technology
progressed, the idea of robotic probes and human spaceflight became the new goal in the late
50s and early 60s. During the Cold War, the Space Race became a competition between the
United States and the Soviet Union which led to Sputnik 1 to be the first object to orbit Earth in
1957. A few years later, the first moon landing by Apollo 11 in 1969 inspired the craft of human
exploration which has led to many projects to further explore our galaxy.
Early space exploration was a dream driven by Jules Verne and H.G Wells, which
encouraged rocket technology to be later produced. The first rocket to actually travel space was
The German V-2. The technology development was mostly obtained during World War II, and
the carriers for fast nuclear weapons. Wernher Von Braun was the lead rocket engineer during
WWII. Germany surrendered during his leading of some caravan workers to America. The US
took the rocket and began working on rocket development. Von Braun obtained US citizenship
and helped develop and launch Explorer 1, the first American satellite. As for the history of
successful human travels in space, the very first human spaceflight was Vostok 1, which carried
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961. It completed its orbit around the globe in less than two
hours. Alan Shepard was the first American launched into Space during the flight of MercuryRedstone 3. The first successful interplanetary flyby was in 1962 for Venus. Venera 7 was of the
first to contain surface data from Venus in 1970, which later led to longer durations of surface
missions being achieved, and thus advancing the technology for space travel. To discuss the
hardships and difficulties in order to set a goal, which led to all the development of the latest
technology, inspiringly President John F. Kennedy quotes,
We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are
easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure he best of
our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are
unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.
The obvious targets of exploration include the planets in our solar system. As for the sun,
NASA might sit that one out, for the fact the space weather can affect power generations that
would interfere and damage space satellites or probes. According to NASA data, Mercury is the
least explored of the terrestrial planets. The missions from MESSENGER and Mariner 10 in
2013 were mainly sent for making close observations of the planet. There is a future mission to
Mercury that is planned to schedule in the year 2020 named BepiColombo. A summary of what
NASA has planned, this is a joint mission between Japan and Europe. Since Mercury is in close
proximity to the sun, to send out probes would be dangerous and difficult, thats why the next
mission will hopefully be able to safely discover the mysteries of Mercury. Along with exploring
the planets, other objects in the solar system are a part of the goal of space exploration. Several
asteroids have been seen by probes such as Galileo and 951 Gaspra. In order to explore deep
space, the best kind of technology invented is anti-matter, nuclear power, and beamed
propulsion. Beam-powered propulsion is a type of aircraft that uses energy beamed to the
spacecraft from a remote power plant to provide energy.

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The NASA Authorization Act has a written list of objectives and funding in order to
propose ways to move forward with the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.
The Orion MPCV is a technological development aircraft that first launched December 5, 2014.
It has the capacity to carry out a crew of four and explore the low orbit of Earth. Developed by
NAS, of course, the intended goal was to continue human exploration of asteroids and Mars.
This 11 feet spacecraft has the performance durability of 21 days. Future missions from Orion
MPCV include crews to obtain orbit in space and go into Martian orbit for a longer period of
time. Asteroid missions and mars missions continue to be seen in the future.
The robotic spacecraft which is often referred to as space probes are designed in order to
explore what we cannot visually see with our current technology. The Giant Planets such as
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are too far away in conditions that are extremely cold and
dangerous for any sort of human contact, as with the terrestrial planets like Mercury, Venus, and
Mars, they experience conditions that are too hot with dangerous gasses. With billions of years to
come in order for our Earth to start to deteriorate, one of NASAs missions is to find a planet that
has the same sustainability factors as Earth does. The importance of missions to explore our
galaxy planets helps gather the information needed to collect data for potential planets and new
discoveries.
According to astronomers if a planet similar to earth does not magically duplicate in the
next thousand years, Mars is a potential candidate for the factors we need. Mars One is a nonprofit foundation with the goal of establishing life on Mars. The next mission is to depart in
2020, and by 2026 crews will follow the path to enable the planets leap for potential life.
Aerospace companies have constructing, designing, and testing Mars One. The plan for 2016 is
to start training the first batch of selected applicants to prepare for their launch in 2026. The
groups are being tested on their patience to deal with long periods of time in a remote location.
According to the Mars One website, by 2020, rovers and communication satellites will be
launched. The rovers will be used to transport the landers, they will drive around in order to
discover the best location for settlement. The conditions for a best location include soil that can
contain water, enough space for solar power, and flat terrain in order to construct settlements.
The communication satellite will be launched into orbit closer to the sun in order to enable 24/7
communication with the two planets. According to the mission, six cargo units will be shipped
by 2025, and contain a life support unit. The unit will be connected by a hose in order to
transport all of our essential needs like water, air, and electricity. The answer to the water on
Mars has been hypothesized by the idea of having the rover feed Martian soil into the
Environmental Control and Life Support System, and the water would be extracted from the soil
by evaporating the ice particles in an oven, thus having the water condensed into a liquid and
stored, and part of the water would be used to produce Oxygen. Before the crew begins their
journey, the Environmental Control and Life Support System will have produced Oxygen in
order to breath, with a .7 bar pressure.
NASA engineer, Adam Steltzner points out that as long as humans remain on a single
planet, we are at risk of extinction when disaster strikes. He encourages the human fascination
for space exploration, and fears that disaster could strike at any time. With Earths continuous
growing population, environmental issues, and keeping the layers of the Earth intact, the result
has to lead in an exploration of other planets. It appears obvious and content to some that Mars is
by far the best planet to colonize, but former astronaut Mae Jemison describes that the decision
of planetary settlements depends on public will and commitment. All of these goals do require a

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long time period and large amounts of funding, but all these layers of exploration lead to
innovation and the discovery of new technology. Jemison quotes, I believe that pursuing an
extraordinary tomorrow will create a better world today.
Thus being said, the idea of traveling to a whole other star requires the development of
extensive technology. NASA has developed a new portable but relatively small invention known
as a Chemical Laptop. Compared to an ordinary laptop, this mechanic invention is to be used to
testing sample materials associated with planets in order to collect more data. This powerful but
sensitive creation would be used to collect samples of amino and fatty acids. These acids can be
come in two types, according to article, Chemical Laptop Could Search for Signs of Life,
posted by AstroBiology, left-handed and right-handed amino acids are mirrored images that
contain the same components, and are essential to the evolvement of earth. These identical
components would be the golden ticket of evidence of existing life on earth, the challenging
part is developing a system to identify them individually in a single analysis. A summary of how
the battery-powered laptop works, is that it needs a liquid sample to analyze, it is then put into a
tube with water and heated to 100 degrees Celsius. Once the water is fed into the Chemical
Laptop, the device mixes the sample with a fluorescent dye, which attaches the dye to the amino
acids, once attached it flows into a microchip where the acid can be separated. At the end of
separation channel, there is a detection laser, in which it allows researchers to see a signal that
corresponds to the acids when they pass the laser. Inside the channel there are chemical additives
that mix, some of these are able to separate the components by mixing with either only the left or
only the right, thus entailing if there can be any sign of life. If a test found a 50-50 mixture of
left-handed and right-handed amino acids, we could conclude that the sample was probably not
of biological origin, Creamer said. But if we were to find an excess of either left or right, that
would be the golden ticket. That would be the best evidence so far that life exists on other
planets. All this information connecting to Mars, the first time this laptop was put to use was
testing it at JPLs Mars Yard. This was the first time we showed the instrument works outside of
the laboratory setting. This is the first step toward demonstrating a totally portable and automated
instrument that can operate in the field, said Fernanda Mora, a JPL researcher, This could also
be an especially useful tool for icy-worlds targets such as Enceladus and Europa. All you would
need to do is melt a little bit of the ice, and you could sample it and analyze it directly. One goal
for this invention is putting a detector on a spacecraft like a Mars rover in order to test outside
the lab. This robotic and creative invention would be used to monitoring the environment and
analyzing the fields and easily linking them back to the lab to test out the found contents.
Additionally, with the concept of robotic exploration, the Human Exploration
Telerobotics project demonstrates the positive motives of the project. With robots it can increase
performance, reduce cost, and improve accuracy of missions. Past missions dealing with robotic
technology has been known to have them function independently for long periods of time
without communication. To improve these missions, the concepts of both aspects need to be
combined, future missions will need to consider location constraints, communication, and time
lines. HET has defined two concepts to study, including ground-control, and crew-centric
operations. Dealing with ground-control operations, the astronauts will be heavily packed with
routine work in order to collect data. The idea of robotics would help level out the tedious work,
enabling astronomers to focus more of their time on their tasks that require human dexterity and
involvement. As for the crew-centric operations, the best time to remotely operate surface robots
is in the case when there is poor communication, the crews physical presence is altered, or when

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local operations outperform remote ones. With HET, I think their primary goal is to have robotics
perform in ways humans cannot, and use them in order to tedious or extraneous work. Robonaut
2, or R2, was the first humanoid robot in space. The development of this robots proves to be a
result of a long-term efficient and safe robot that can operate near humans and perform
significant amounts of intricate work. With R2 having 350 sensors, two 7-DOF arms, two DOF
hands, a 3-DOF neck, and a waist with controllers embedded throughout its body, R2 has the
ability to do most anything.
Along with R2, the other technological advancement used in missions are the
Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES, which
are free flying circular technological pieces developed to test spacecraft guidance and navigate,
and control algorithms in zero-gravity areas. In 2012, NASA used these smart SPHERES to test
that ground control can perform tasks that can perform using sensors and technology, and not
solely require crew involvement. With this groundbreaking technology some possible, hopefully
future missions, include exploring the far side of the moon. The robot utilization will be
maximized, and reduce communication requirements. The exploration of objects close to earth
would have the crew control the robot from the flight to reduce NEO dynamics.
The primary goal of HET Telerobotics is to obtain engineering data from crew-controlled
Telerobotics system. HET works to focus on collecting data from tests, validating functional
issues, and developing requirements for future missions. HEOMD is also responsible for human
space flight. The Mission Operations Directorate focus on health and safety risks of astronauts
and help to improve their performances. NASA has been developing new space vehicles in order
to lead missions that go deep into space like exploring asteroids. The Multi-Purpose Crew
Vehicle will be the primary mode of transportation for astronauts. It will be capable to
conducting space operations such as spacewalking and docking. It is primary to develop the
latest technology of transportation and other technology systems because they all contribute in
the discovery of new objects. With space communication and navigation and acquiring data, the
flights missions are able to be successful. NASAs operating networks help develop
communications in order to send back data and record new findings from space.
With the rising development of missions to planets, explorations using human and robotic
technology, and technological advancements to continue data tracking, the next stage would be
to level up the game of space colonizing. Space colonization is the permanent autonomous
human habitation of location outside Earth. Eric Anderson, an aerospace engineer, gave an
interview discussing the future of space travel with James Fallows. Anderson believes the trip to
get to Mars is based on economics. The key to making it possible is to use the resources from
space to colonize space. The idea of asteroid mining would be the idealization of starting the
planet to be livable. Anderson is the co-founder of space organization, and as their first mission
for asteroid reconnaissance is to launch many spacecraft ships.
Our first missions, for asteroid reconnaissance, will be launching in the next two to three years.
For these missions, were going to launch small swarms of spacecraft. When I say small, I mean
well send three or four spacecraft, and each one of those spacecraft may weigh only 30 pounds.
But they will have optical sensors that are better than any camera available today. They will send
back imagery, theyll map the gravity field, theyll use telescopic remote sensing and
spectroscopy to tell us exactly what materials are in the asteroid. It will be possible to know more

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about an ore body thats 10 million miles away from us in space than it would be to know about
an ore body 10 miles below the Earths surface,
Along with the technological steps involved in making these decisions, there are
economical and establishment decisions to be made. To this are the creation of systems of what
will be set up and Space Treaties and territories. With all the talk about space and technology, the
primary reason NASA is putting in so much money into this is for the sake of mankind. Survival
of human civilization is a must, so by actually making these developments be true, the worry
about life after Earth will be possible. The famous Stephen Hawking predicted the human race
would become extinct in the next thousand years unless colonies could be established in space.
Hawking gave the world two choices to think upon, either we reside on another planet, or we
face the prospect of the human race to be extinct. NASAs Administrator Michael Griffin noted
that space colonization is the ultimate goal for spaceflight programs by saying,
the goal isnt just scientific explorationits also about extending the range of human
habitat out from Earth in to the solar system as we go forward in time In the long run a singleplanet species will not survive If we humans want to survive for hundreds of thousands or
millions of years, we must ultimately populate other planets. Now, today the technology is such
that this is barely conceivable. Were I the infancy of it Im talking about that one day, I dont
know when that day is, but there will be more human beings who live off the Earth than on it. We
may have people living on the moons of Jupiter and other planets. We may have people making
habitats on asteroids I know that humans will colonize the solar system and one day go
beyond.
The prospect of this journey will protect humanity in the events of any warfare. Many
scientists believe this accomplishment can help restore the faith of proper human civilization.
With what Eric Anderson mentioned about using space to colonize space, there are many vast
resources in our space. Our Solar System alone has enough material and energy to support a
billion times that our current population. In an interview with Freeman Dyson, J. Richard Gott,
and Sid Goldstein, their responses for why humans should live and explore space are to spread
life and beauty throughout the universe. To ensure our survival, to make money through forms of
space commercialization such as solar-powered satellites and asteroid mining, to save the
environment, and to ensure using the supply of rare materials in order to survive, like natural gas
and drinking water. With all these initial missions that involve robotic and human exploration,
this developed goal will require a high cost of getting into space. These situations require a
budget in order to safely collect data and help restore a new planet to mirror Earth.
To continue the back and forth discussion of colonization and exploration, this would not
be made possible if there were not improved technological advancements. The Deep Space 1
mission would not have been able to be made possible if it were not for space propulsion which
fuel the economy better because it makes it apparent to travel faster without raising the cost of
fuel. Also, using solar energy to avoid racking up the expenses of shipping components from the
Earth. NASA has helped improve rocket launching from having a nuclear thermal rocket or a
solar thermal rocket. Ain the 50s-60s, NASA tested a few of these designs in order to replace
some of the prior stages of the Saturn V vehicle, but some tests revealed problems in the
durability. Now these rockets better replace energy chemicals in order to create a thrust to
improve rocket ship design. The idea of fission powered rockets use solar electric power which
limit their power to operate from the sun, so they would not necessarily work to get to places

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further away from Earth. In contrast, solar sails rely on light reflected from a surface, and require
no fuel.
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, is a module that is to be attached
to a spacecraft and launch on a Falcon 9 rocket. BEAM will be deployed which will result in an
additional 600 cubed feet of volume and will be accessible through the lab by astronauts. BEAM
could be a new way to increase the volume available to astronaut explorers but also protecting
them from harmful radiation and debris while exploring space. This is yet another invention that
could provide for the expansion of exploring deeper into space. Carlyle Webb discusses the steps
for BEAM, and how they are a contribution to NASAs growth in technology. Webb quotes,
In the next decade, NASA plans to extend human spaceflight from low-Earth orbit
operations to proving ground operations in cis-lunar space orbiting the moon. In the proving
ground, NASA and its partners will validate vital hardware, including deep space habitats, as
well as operations and capabilities necessary to send humans on long-duration missions to Mars
or other deep-space destinations in which they must operate independently from Earth. The
International Space Station serves as the world's leading laboratory for conducting cutting-edge
research and is the primary platform for technology development and testing in space to enable
human and robotic exploration of destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, including asteroids and
Mars. Once BEAM is attached to the Tranquility Node, the space station crew will perform
initial systems checks before deploying the habitat. During the BEAMs minimum two-year test
period, crews will routinely enter to take measurements and monitor its performance to help
inform designs for future habitat systems. Learning how an expandable habitat performs in the
thermal environment of space and how it reacts to radiation, micrometeroids, and orbital debris
will provide information to address key concerns about living in the harsh environment of space.
The BEAM is an example of NASAs increased commitment to partnering with industry to
enable the growth of the commercial use of space. Bigelow Aerospace is building on technology
NASA conceived in the 1990s and licensed to the company. NASA and Bigelow Aerospace are
each benefitting from the sharing of expertise, costs, and risks to pursue mutual goals. The
module is scheduled to launch on SpaceXs eighth cargo resupply mission to the space station
later this year.
Now lets dive in to the idea of using non-terrestrial resources and materials. These
resources are a lot further away but do not require a strong gravity field, which makes it cheaper
to use in space for the long run. According to the article, the most important non-terrestrial
resource is energy because you can use it to transform other materials to be useful to produce
other kinds of energy. Other resources have been proposed, solar-powered energy generation,
and electrodynamic tether, which generate electricity from the powerful magnetic fields of some
planets. Oxygen is a grand resource that is much needed and is probably abundant in other
bodies like it is in the moons crust.
The 2015 American Science Fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, The Martian, is a
film about an astronaut Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon, who is presumed dead after
blasting off from Mars. With only a few supplies, Watney must utilize his resources in order to
survive on Mars while members at NASA formulate a plan to return him home. In The Martian,
NASA created an article explaining the accuracy from the movie, and how NASA has already
developed many of the technologies that appear in the movie. Thus providing a possible theory
of surviving and living on Mars. Future astronauts will need a place to call home, in the film,

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Mark Watney spends his time in a habitation module known as the HAB. NASAs own version of
this module is HERA, which is a self-contained environment that simulates a deep-space
habitat. This module contains a workspace, a living space, and a hygiene station. The crew
preform work operation tasks and live together for 14 days, soon to be increased to a month, and
they use the facility to complete missions. As far as food goes, the International Space Station,
ISS, delivers food by cargo supply vehicles. Realistically, humans would not be able to rely on
these supplies delivered from space since it would take up to nine months to get food delivered.
The only way to survive with a vast food abundance would be to grow crops. Today, lettuce is
the largest growing crop in space so far. From the International Space Station, Veggie is the fresh
food production system, it is able to plant crops using small bags filled with media and fertilizer
using colored lights. In 2014, Veggie was able to grow red romaine lettuce, which is a major step
in space farming. This compares to Mark Watney using the HAB in order to grow potatoes.
Recently, there was a discover of a liquid state on Mars, but undrinkable and unable to use. In
reality, there are no lakes or oceans on the surface and again, getting water delivered from Maars
would take up to months, so in the movie, and in real life, there would have to be a system to
safe and collect water. The Environmental Control and Life Support System recycles water from
urine, oral hygiene, and other sources, there is a constant filtered and re-consumption in order to
rely on water. NASA is still continuing to develop new technologies for water recovery, for
future human exploration, this would be a vital addition to surviving on Mars. Now for the
oxygen generation, food and shelter are vital resources, but oxygen seems to be an element that
can be overlooked since it is free on Earth. Mark Watney cannot just step outside to get a fresh
breath, instead he needs to carry some form of oxygen with him at all times outside of the HAB.
In the film, the HAB uses an oxygenator which is a system that generates oxygen using the
carbon dioxide from the Mars Ascent Vehicle fuel generator. On the ISS, astronauts have the
Oxygen Generation System which reprocesses the atmosphere in order to provide a sustainable
flow of oxygen throughout. It produces oxygen through electrolysis, which splits water
molecules into their two components, and the oxygen gets released into the atmosphere, and the
hydrogen gets fed into the Sabatier System which create water. There are a lot of facts that The
Martian has and surviving on Mars needs. Another addition to these elements are spacesuits.
The surface of Mars is dusty and rocky, and harsh for humans. In order to perform work duties,
Mark Watney needs to have a flexible and comfortable suit in order to walk along the surface.
NASA is currently developing a spacesuit that could be used on Mars. The z-2 and Prototype
eXploration suit would be used by astronauts to complete missions and be able to safely and
effortlessly trek through the red dust and sol that could affect the astronauts and systems of their
spacecraft. In the movie, there are clips with Mark Watney taking his rover for a spin in order to
analyze the surfaces of Mars, and he modifies the vehicle in order to help him survive. NASA
has been working on their Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle which has been used to
analog mission projects to help solve problems. The Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle
has six wheels to maneuver better and is able to address issues like range, and radiation
protection.
The Martian is very incredible, all of their fine details and technologies closely mirror
some of NASAs current design plans that can help them explore Mars. Some more comparisons
from the movie are the solar panels. Out in Mars, there are not any natural power supplies, so
solar energy is an essential necessity, Mark Watney uses solar panels in an unconventional way
in order to help him survive longer on Mars. The ISS has four sets of solar arrays that generate
up to 120 kilowatts of electricity. Our current solar power system to provide for aircrafts has

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been safely providing energy since 2000s, and will continue to progress. On the spacecraft
Orion, it uses solar arrays for power and has enough power stored that it can stand to operate
even away from sunlight. Overall, the journey to mars is dangerous, and NASA plans on sending
humans there in the year 2030. But with the movie out, it inspires scientists to keep on learning
and understanding the universe. Matt Damon described his movie as a teaching tool, because
of the great science and understandable similarities to the goals that NASA has for the future.
Since, in the long run, every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from
space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring--not because of exploratory
or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive... If our long-term
survival is at stake, we have a basic responsibility to our species to venture to other worlds.
Carl Sagan
Throughout all the research, there are many connections to how space exploration and
robotic exploration can lead into journeys that deal with how the future is going to be. With the
first rocket in space, to the first man on the moon, to the development of flybys that collect data
and encourage rovers to explore over unfamiliar lands develop into curiosity and data collection,
and eventually plans of human colonization. There are many things still left unknown, but NASA
has been continuously developing products which are still being improved. Before, the idea of
living on another planet has been very unrealistic and at times scary, but with the research of the
development of space exploration, it brings to light an exciting thing to look forward to in years
to come. With Mars now getting a Hollywood treatment from the movie The Martian, the
process of living on Mars doesnt seem too far-fetched since NASA is building upon the work of
the film. We are at the dawn of a new era in commercial space exploration, and the adventures to
come will be significantly worthy.