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Ask HN: Why not use androids to colonize Mars initially and then humans later?
2 points by amichail 1 hour ago | hide | past | web | 5 comments | favorite





Because Androids don't exist?

They are already being developed at Tesla.

> as humans would arrive at Mars

Why would humans go there in person?


Why use androids at all? Bipedal robots are accident prone and difficult to repair. A wealth of effort would be wasted housing and maintaining a transient race of robo-people that would one day be obsoleted to make room for humans. Even then, it's doubtful how effective the anthropoidal form is on a body of mass with 38% of Earth's gravity. You might prefer other options.

When you weigh the risks involved with sending robots that have a limited motor manipulation, range of motion and independent ingenuity, you might as well just spend a few bajillion dollars sending an astronaut do it. You can very feasibly sustain a small population of people on life support, and if they were aided by additive manufacturing tools that could leverage Mars' natural resources then I'd consider that a much more realistic colony moonshot.


Or why not allocate those bajillions to fix our own planet's problems first?



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