Small Steps Make a Giant LeapThe Augustine commission’s report ignited a mighty political fight, culminating in the decision to delegate much of the task of launching astronauts into orbit to private companies [see “Jump-Starting the Orbital Economy,” by David H. Freedman; Scientific American, December 2010]. NASA can now focus on transformative technology and push human exploration on to new frontiers. But how can the agency move forward without the political support and resources it enjoyed during the glory days of the Apollo moon landings?

The established approach in robotic exploration is incremental: develop a technology portfolio that enables increasingly ambitious missions to take place. Rather than relying on an all-or-nothing development path to a single target, the robotic exploration program makes use of novel combinations of technology to reach a variety of targets. To be sure, the robotic program has suffered its own mistakes and inefficiencies; nothing is perfect. At least it does not grind to a halt when the political winds change or when technological innovation lags. The human program can borrow from this strategy. It need not commence with “one giant leap” as with Apollo. It can embark on a series of modest steps, each building on the one before.

For some, the real lesson of robotic exploration might be that we should not send people at all. If NASA’s only goal was scientific discovery, robotic probes would certainly be cheaper and lower risk. Yet NASA is tasked with more than just science; science is only one aspect of a broader human impulse to explore. Space exploration has wide appeal because of a desire for ordinary people to experience it firsthand someday. Robotic probes are just the first wave of solar system exploration. Government-funded human missions will be the second wave, and the third will be private citizens seeking their fortune and adventure in space. NASA’s past investments developed the technology that is fueling today’s commercial space race, with capsules launching to the space station and space planes jetting over the Mojave Desert [see “Blastoffs on a Budget,” by Joan C. Horvath; Scientific American, April 2004]. NASA can now develop the technology that we will need to push deeper into the beyond.