What are some advantages and disadvantages of a space probe?

Answer 1

The unmanned space probe is, all things being equal, cheaper and involves no risk of life to personnel. The craft can be built without regard to life-support, emergency escape, etc, can conveniently burn up in the outer atmosphere with no problems. It can be up for years--many satellites are--and transmit accurate data without problems unless something goes wrong, as many Mars probes have gone under. But many times when spacecraft have broken down, they are un-recoverable. It is interesting to note the radio science commentator, Dr. Michio Kaku--of WBAI--originator of the super-string theory, prefers unmanned to manned space craft. Of course, there is (other side of the coin) the adventure and romance of manned exploration with all its risks. Unmanned shots are mere remote controlled stations, but a manned shot to the Moon, even, is long overdue, there is much talk of Manned Lunar missions in the near future! See air and space magazine. In 2030, there are plans of sending a manned spacecraft to Pluto... 10 years travel away!

Answer 2

The advantages of unmanned space probes over manned interplanetary exploration are that:

- No human lives are at risk.

- Us humans can remain comfortably at home, rather than having to spend years confined in cramped quarters under adverse conditions.

- Humans require a lot of care. All that has to be provided by expensive and heavy equipment, which increases the costs of launching a mission exponentially.

- Human physiology has limitations that unmanned probes may not have, such as tolerance to high gravity and radiation. Unmanned probes may therefore go where humans may not.

Some of the drawbacks are:

- The distances between probe and control are considerable. Therefore there is a big lag in communication and command.

- Humans may react fast to unforeseen circumstances that an unmanned probe may not be equipped to deal with.

- Humans like to travel, to pioneer, to boldly go where no-one has gone before. They want to go out into space and see the solar system for themselves. Simply correlating data from unmanned probes does not give them the same satisfaction that going there for themselves might give.

Answer 3

a telescopes vision can be blocked by and astroid or by the clouds. you won't get a clear view when all the dust blocks a lot since it is zooming a lot. the advantages are its also like a periscope with a mirror which give you a clear view of things.

Answer 4

One advantage to space telescopes is that they are not affected by the Earth's atmosphere. For ground based telescopes the atmosphere of the Earth blocks some or all of the incoming light from celestial objects. Placing the telescope in space provides a much clearer picture. Some objects that can be seen from a space telescope are not recognizable from ground based telescopes.

One disadvantage to space telescopes is that if something was to fail, a space mission would have to be scheduled in order to fix the problem. This could be time consuming and costly. Another disadvantage is that space telescopes are few, the use of one, must be orchestrated and scheduled ahead of time.

Answer 5

Space exploration could be very useful in discovering the outer space. The only disadvantage of it is its cost. It is very expensive.

Answer 6

Advantages: Space telescopes orbit above Earth's atmosphere and thus produce clearer images than Earth-based telescopes

Disadvantages: more expensive, harder to repair.