[WestPacSailor]

re: manned vs. robotic exploration

Both are good and desireable. Send a robotic probe first. If the results look promising, THEN send a human crew. It is the nature of humans to explore and colonize. The entire history of human evolution has been driven by the need to "see what's out there". It's why the first humans left their small communities and hiked over the nearby mountains, and why Columbus sailed over the horizon, and why Americans went west, and why we'll someday go to Mars...and beyond.

[chimera]

And there are some places that humans just can't go right now. I wouldn't want a manned expedition into Jupiter's atmosphere, for example, until we learn how to deal with that environment (if its possible at all). Likewise for the outer gas giants (although Neptune is such a lovely-looking world, at least from way outside...).

For that, you're looking at something with a lot more kick than today's propulsion systems, to get there in any reasonable time. Chemical rockets don't have the oomph and gravity slingshots take forever and a day. So, say hello again to nuclear propulsion, which is just what JIMO/Prometheus is looking at.