Leave space missions to billionaires and robots, says astronomer royal

More sophisticated AI means space agencies should not use public funds for risky human missions, says Lord Martin Rees

The world's space agencies should scrap plans to send astronauts to the moon and Mars and leave them to explorers and billionaires who can privately fund and risk such adventures, the astronomer royal says.

Lord Martin Rees said technical improvements and more sophisticated artificial intelligence meant robotic missions were becoming ever more capable of exploration, and even construction, in space, making it unnecessary for space agencies to front far-flung human missions.