- Shy, the more recent robotic missions that you list probably did/are happening in reality, because Archived Message
Posted by Rhisiart Gwilym
on July 28, 2019, 8:24 pm, in reply to "Re: Was this fake too?"
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we've got a lot more glib now at doing complex robot-performed processes; and rocketry has got quite a bit better, more matured, and cheaper to the point where private consortia can contemplate at least low-orbit hops. The main point that I take from all this sceptical material - which as a topic is rather new to me - is that whilst machines might be able to survive the deeply-hostile space and Moon surface environments, biological structures can't; not without impossibly heavy/expensive/complex shielding. My hunch is that as this realisation dawned firm and clear on the engineering community, a big cancel-the-old-programmes-and-rethink thaw set in; hence what we have now: somewhat yawny, routine, lowish-profile space shots with tough and clever robots. That's feasible. Quite probably it's really happening. Send a robot; don't fash about air/water/food/loos, not needed; battery and solar-panel tech are much better now, as are precision-engineered robotic systems for surveying and sampling; and when it all wears out, vanishes irretrievably out of the solar system, or gets slammed to silence by a micrometeorite - so what? Just write it off; no-one's going to grieve or protest. This sort of hitechery toy-playing is entirely feasible just now, and seems pretty likely to be happening, in reality. Though - er - I don't expect it to survive for long... as we - er - proceed into the Long Descent...  
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