The future of lunar landers (Video)

by Matthew Stibbe on September 21, 2009

Armadillo Aerospace lunar lander qualification flight.

Tagged as: Space

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Sylvia September 22, 2009 at 10:12: Something about rockets never ceases to amaze me. The precision of this is unbelievable, I know it’s necessary but it still makes me shake my head in wonder.
Julien September 24, 2009 at 00:54: This is utterly cool. It also highlights the fact that it took 40 years to get a machine to do what a crew of two did by hand in a crude aircraft over an alien landscape far away from home on July 21st, 1969. Which makes the first moon landing in Apollo 11 an even more momentous achievement in perspective.

Back on Earth, drones have already replaced military pilots for some type of missions, and space exploration seems to be headed in that direction too. All for good reasons certainly. Reducing costs and sparing human lives.

However I can’t help but be saddened by she shrinking domain of flying activities that still require human pilots. My belief is that we’ll soon see pilot-less freight airplanes moving parcels over our heads while we’re sleeping. Pilot-less passenger airplanes face a harder acceptance challenge, but if the price is right and the regulator can be convinced this may become the low-cost carrier model of the future.

Once thing though sets human pilots apart from their electric counterparts: all the fun and excitement we experience in the cockpit. And machines cannot take that away from us.