The RAS has been looking into the UK effective 'ban' on spending money on sending humans into space.
Basically they concluded that humans can do a lot more than robots will be able to do for the forseeable future. Something that Michael McKay mentioned at Whirlpool. Though you need to read the document to get the whole picture.
Cheers,
~Al
Albert White MSc FRAS
Chairperson, International Dark Sky Association - Irish Section
www.darksky.ie/
  