Many people find the computer-games aspect of what the Pentagon likes to call "Unmanned Aerial Systems" creepy, but drones are much better than manned aircraft at hunting fleeting targets.
Moreover, Mars lends itself better to manned scientific exploration than does our other neighbors.
Ship for ship, the East Indiamen were outclassed by the French frigates, which were faster, stronger, more powerful and better armed and manned.
They would even attack far better equipped and manned forces of Afghanistan's Ahmed Shah Abdali and free thousands of Hindu and Muslim girls being carried by him as war bounty, at a huge cost to the Sikhs' own lives.
Aswe approach the 40th anniversary of the first manned Moon landing, what better time than to play Rising Star's homage to all things lunar?
Meanwhile the navy persists with 11 fabulously expensive but increasingly vulnerable carriers when underwater vehicles both manned and unmanned may be better equipped to tackle enemies with advanced area denial capabilities.Getting career airmen and sailors to give up their toys isn't the only cultural challenge.
If a big, long-range UAS can operate safely from a congested carrier flight deck at sea, that would go some way to allaying fears for the future of aircraft-carriers.Another potential advantage for UAS is that future designs may be better able to survive in contested airspace than manned aircraft are.
The manned space program might have had a better chance of firing a second stage if an approachable hero had returned to us as the First Man.
He adds: "I am convinced there is no better way to make the world a better place than a manned mission to Mars".
The best empirical evidence suggests that drones are more precise, result in fewer unintended deaths of civilian bystanders, and better protect their operators from risk than other weapons, such as manned aircraft, carrying out similar missions.
