Humans versus Robots in Space Exploration and Colonization: A Contextualized Approach

In this paper Should Space Travel be Human or Robotic? Reasons for and against full automation for space missions Maurizio Balistreri explores the ongoing debate as to whether space travel, exploration, and extraterrestrial colonisation should be the domain of humans or that of robots. Balistreri explores both the reasons purported by scholars as to why robots should be means to undergo these extraterrestrial ventures as well as those who argue that there are stronger arguments for making this the domain of human astronauts. Although Balistreri takes no explicit side in this debate, despite his previous work perhaps suggesting an anthropic leaning, this paper instead takes a slightly less binary approach to the arguments and argues that certain space voyages should be human-centred, where humans are the primary arbiters of this domain with the assistance of robotics, rather than at their opportunity cost.