Late_Cretaceous

Coragyps, of course there are canals on mars, Dan Quayle knew about them all along:

"Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe."
-- Vice President Dan Quayle, 8/11/89

Abacus

But the accomplishments of these one time probes has been spectacular. Pioneer, Viking, Voyager, Magellan, Galileo, etc have all explored places that it won't be feasible for humans to travel to for a long time (probably).

Liquidrage

I guess it depends on the use of "spectacular".
In comparision to a Roman Candle they are. In comparision to a lunar colony, not as much.

I am would not suggest the dismissal of probes. They are needed now, always have been and most likely always will be. Sending manned vehicles into an area that has not been probed would be illogical.

I also believe that at our current pace we will never get to the places the mentioned probes have been.
It has been nearly 30 years since man has been beyond low-Earth obrit.

I am meerly stating that the technology and the finances are in place to establish a lunar colony and have been for some time, and that a lunar colony is the next logical step in space exploration.

jayh

Quite a few in the scientific community would disagree. Probes are orders of magnitude less expensive and can go so many places we could not send a human. Much more exploration for the buck. Human colonies are more baggage, dangerous and extremely expensive, and appealing mainly to science fiction fans.


Jay

Liquidrage

jayh,

I find that to be an oversimplification of the issue. Not to mention I disagree with the use of the term "scientific community", though I'll deal with only the former as the latter would be a fruitless discussion.

If given only the eternal choice of probes or a colony, I would choose probes.
However, a colony on the lunar surface offers such promise for eventually sending more probes for cheaper. Not to mention probes that are more capable in terms of mission performance.

Even if one were to assume the worst case scenario, and that is that a lunar colony would be nothing more then a biodome on an alien rock and not able to manufacture raw materials for consturction or fuel, the benefites of probe assembly on the lunar surface are enormous.
A huge portion of current probe design and cost is creating a probe capable of surving the force associated with Earth's escape velocity. Lunar assembly would allievate much of this problem.

I agree with the damage potential though. Both in missoin failure and in human life. I just don't have a problem with either.