Hard Science Fiction About Space Exploration

[ian_sales]

But on the subject of space exploration I would expect the asteroids to be mined mostly by robots. Or maybe men in a ship nearby controlling them remotely. The spacesuit nonsense from the 50s and 60s has been made obsolete by the advances in robotics. Maintaining lot of men due to the food and oxygen requirements would make it too expensive.

The time lag for comms with Earth might make humans on the spot a requirement. Unless the robotics are sufficiently autonomous... and that level of complexity creates problems all its own.

[Rosie Oliver]

The time lag for comms with Earth might make humans on the spot a requirement. Unless the robotics are sufficiently autonomous... and that level of complexity creates problems all its own.

I'm in agreement with the tech comments here... but there is no consideration of the legal requirement.

This requires someone to be responsible for the actions of machines (much like drivers are for cars, captains for plane and ships today).

Tech limitations means that having someone nearby to control the robots mining the asteroids is a must. Otherwise there will not be sufficient control exerted over the robots because of the lack of response time to control commands.

[psikeyhackr]

I'm looking for recommendations for the best hard science fiction novels about space travel

Check out The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_in_God%27s_Eye

But is it really about space travel?

Truly GOOD sci-fi has things to say.

The Antares Trilogy by Michael McCollum.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...ntares_Passage

When I was a kid a thought stories about Belters were great. Now I see them as unrealistic. The asteroids will be mined by robots. The last 40 years have shown that getting into space is more expensive than the old SF books indicated. The future ain't what it used to be.

psik

[ian_sales]

I'm looking for recommendations for the best hard science fiction novels about space travel

Blue Remembered Earth, Alastair Reynolds

[Rosie Oliver]

When I was a kid a thought stories about Belters were great. Now I see them as unrealistic. The asteroids will be mined by robots. The last 40 years have shown that getting into space is more expensive than the old SF books indicated. The future ain't what it used to be.

psik

Once a cheap cure for cancer is found, space travel will get a lot cheaper... we won't need the anti-radiation shielding that goes to make up a lot of the space travel costs. And society is working on that cure as we speak... it may be quite a few decades away, but we'll get there.

Of course this assumes that cheap reliable space elevators of their equivalent will also be developed, we'll be picking up water in the form of ice from space rather than pushing it up off Earth (unless someone realises how to use capillary tubes to suck water upwards) and that we can manufacture protein cheaply while in space... all doable IMHO

[livens]

Once a cheap cure for cancer is found, space travel will get a lot cheaper... we won't need the anti-radiation shielding that goes to make up a lot of the space travel costs. And society is working on that cure as we speak... it may be quite a few decades away, but we'll get there.

Of course this assumes that cheap reliable space elevators of their equivalent will also be developed, we'll be picking up water in the form of ice from space rather than pushing it up off Earth (unless someone realises how to use capillary tubes to suck water upwards) and that we can manufacture protein cheaply while in space... all doable IMHO

I don't think so. While we may eventually be able to cure cancer caused by exposure to radiation, that will not allow us to survive long term exposure to it. The radiation damages your DNA. Some percentage of cells with a particular type of damage go on to be cancerous. We could cure that cancer, but eventually all of your DNA would be damaged to some degree. Your cells would either die, or stop being able to multiply. You would die, perhaps cancer free... but dead all the same.

[Rosie Oliver]

I don't think so. While we may eventually be able to cure cancer caused by exposure to radiation, that will not allow us to survive long term exposure to it. The radiation damages your DNA. Some percentage of cells with a particular type of damage go on to be cancerous. We could cure that cancer, but eventually all of your DNA would be damaged to some degree. Your cells would either die, or stop being able to multiply. You would die, perhaps cancer free... but dead all the same.

Hm... I must admit I rather like Ben Bova's idea of a cure... nanobots. As they work at such a miniscule scale it is not beyond the realms of imagination that they will also be able to rebuild DNA. But this may not be the cheapest way of doing things.

[TimAndersen]

Hm... I must admit I rather like Ben Bova's idea of a cure... nanobots. As they work at such a miniscule scale it is not beyond the realms of imagination that they will also be able to rebuild DNA. But this may not be the cheapest way of doing things.

Bee venom is a promising cure:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...922095534.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22109081

It's not exactly nano tech, but still very advanced to get it to target cancer cells since bee venom kills just about any cell.