>People on Mars and select asteroids? No, robots. No, not really. People back then weren't predicting 1 or 2 people on Mars and select asteroids, they were pr

>People on Mars and select asteroids? No, robots. No, not really. People back then weren't predicting 1 or 2 people on Mars and select asteroids, they were predicting large settlements on the Moon and maybe Mars. Instead, we have a small handful of robotic explorers in those places (and sampling asteroids occasionally). The scale is absolutely nothing like what was predicted. We haven't "automated" as you say: if we had, we'd have armies of robots doing real work, like building habitats for humans, or harvesting asteroids for resources. A couple of very slow robotic exploration vehicles just isn't the same thing. I don't see real automation in space, just some small attempts at using a small amount of automation to avoid sending humans anywhere and save money.