Amber Walton
UNIV 112
Annotated Bibliography 5
4 November 2015
1. Research Question:
Should astronauts be allowed to go on a one-way mission to Mars?
2. MLA Source:
Ronald J. White, and Maurice Averner. "Humans in Space." Nature 409.6823 (2001):
1115. ProQuest. Web.
3. Qualifications of Source:
Ronald J. White worked for the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. Maurice
Averner worked for NASA’s Ames Research Center and had previously been a biology
professor in Oregon. Both have co-authored numerous peer-reviewed articles, most
relevantly in biology and chemistry.
4. Main Claim of Source:
Having humans work in space provides more value as opposed to robots.
5. Sub-claims:
There are capabilities needed to preform scientific tasks that robots are not able to make,
such as judgment (especially quick judgment), troubleshooting, and machine repair.
6. Evidence:
 The Hubble Space Telescope would not have been repaired had astronauts not
intervened, making it significantly less valuable then it is now.
 Robots do not (presently) have the human capabilities of long-distance travel over
difficult land and detailed inspection of planetary materials. Humans can also
immediately apply reasoning and problem solving, saving time during
exploration.
 The space rover Sojourner outlined the noteworthy problem of distance; it was
only able to travel 100 meters before losing communication with scientists. This
severely limited results and discoveries during the Mars Pathfinder mission.
7. Quotes:
“The glamour and excitement of human voyages, as opposed to automated, robotic
missions, does much for public morale and for our need as humans to go where we have
not yet ventured. But the reason for human exploration goes far beyond these emotional
aspects and is in fact a necessary component of exploring the Universe.” (1115)
o This is a cultural point; one which Slobodian (from entry 4) may scoff at.
Including a non-emotional reason for manned space flight outside is crucial.
“Complex tasks, scientific experimentation, and repair and troubleshooting of equipment
and hardware, for example, all require human capabilities and judgment.” (1115)
o Robots are not so far developed to include these capabilities (and may never, if
singularity doesn’t occur).
“Human presence will be required for the reasoning and responses necessary to
accommodate unexpected discoveries and to perform real-time testing of hypotheses.”
(1115)
o Another point of humans over robots in terms of research and discovery.
“Voyages of exploration will subject space travellers to three serious and related
challenges: (1) changes in the physical forces on and within the body brought about by a
reduction in weight… psychosocial changes induced by the long-term confinement… and
(3) changes in the levels and types of radiation in the environment.” (1116)
o This provides a concise outline of the risks of human space flight. I have
countered the “psychosocial changes” already with the first two annotated
bibliography entries. This article mentions the counter-measures how the physical
risks can be reduced, however I may look into another source to address these
concerns more in depth.
“However, we know that bisphosphonates limit bone loss effectively where bone
resorption is increased, and bed-rest studies examining this approach are underway.
Newer agents…may prove more effective ultimately. One hypothesis is that both
resistive exercise and a pharmacological agent will be required to prevent bone loss
during extended space flight.”
o Possible preventative measures against long-term body dysfunction are
undergoing research. I mistakenly thought that the exercise alone prevented bone
loss, however this source states otherwise.
8. Use of the Source:
This source outlines both the benefits of having astronauts perform planetary work and
the risks to their health. The article somewhat supports the idea of manned-missions over
rover missions, however one could argue that the physical damage done to astronauts
outweigh this.