REM@MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP (06/08/83)
From: Robert Elton Maas <REM @ MIT-MC> Re unmanned rovers and other facilities on Moon: The argument that LLO (Low Lunar Orbit) isn't significantly more energy expensive than GEO (Geosynchronous Earth Orbit) means that sending crew into orbit around the Moon to establish close radio link with remote-control equipment on the Moon to avoid the long feedback/servo delay that Earth/Moon remote control suffers, is feasible. I suggest LLO/Moon telepresence for any task that requires very rapid feedback, and Earth/Moon telepresence for all the other tasks that can get by with 2.5 second speed-of-light-round-trip delays. That way we can have a small crew in LLO and a few thousand back on Earth, each doing something useful, and get better effectiveness than with the small LLO crew alone or the gigantic Earth crew alone. Establishing an orbiting Mars station, with unmanned equipent on the surface of Mars, would also be feasible. We could have a ring of communications relay satellites to allow one orbiting crew to be in constant contact with a given surface-site even when on the opposite side of the planetary body. Remember it takes only 1/7 second for light to circumnavigate the Earth, less around Mars, and about a quarter on the Moon, so servo delays will be almost unnoticable around the Moon and very tolerable around Mars (or the moons of Jupiter or Saturn for that matter). I suggest we concentrate on (1) scientific info such as lunar polar orbiter, (2) rocket technology such as ion rocket, (3) establishing orbiting manned space stations around Earth and other planetary bodies, (4) establishing unmanned landers/rovers for on-site chemical analysis of minerals and subsequent mining operations. Heavy-load landers for exchanging human crews on planetary surfaces can wait until we have a real need for that capability and the means and funds to do it.