PERMANENT ROBOTIC BASES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

One way to portray the evolution of space exploration is as a sequence of overlapping eras, each succeeded by an era embodying more challenge and more mature objectives. One model (Stone) suggests that we are currently in the third era, and that the focus of the fourth era will be the evolution from occasional visits to permanent bases, supporting the continuous presence of robots and/or humans. Another term applied to this is "outposts," used in the traditional terrestrial sense to suggest a continuous presence, e.g. a base of operations, beyond the edge of settled civilization. The new thing about applying the outpost notion to space exploration is that the presence may be robotic—initi ally or permanently— rather than human. The following list of examples provides some idea of the potential richness of the outpost concept.