you have to understand UAVs are very slow. so it takes hrs to reach battlefield. it can create a lot of fatique. and UAV not cheap. Its huge long term investment in industrial production and training. they have very limited payload. airframes are very fragile. cant imagine they can survive a lot of tonnage load over 40 year period.

#1. Drones don’t get wary and they are controlled by a crew, which is larger than a simple team.
#2. UAV are cheap, which is why design and IOC are in such short cycles relative to manned platforms.
#3. UAV are disposable by design, their entire life is measured in hours not years.

I will take the Marte ER. At almost twice the range of the Pengiun I know what would keep me safer at launch phase.

Well in that case the ER is outclassed by the others in its projected weight class. The Marte ER doesn’t fix the shortcomings of the original.

I guess it’s probably my own feelings, but when almost 300 people die the jokes just are not funny.

That sounds like you’ve hit a patch of melancholy. Writing a book is about recording history, not all that other nonsense.

It sounds like you’ve been getting radicalized.

I never understand the need for Marte when the Penguin did the job and didn’t look like a phallic toy.

Penguin looks much more serious.

I believe the time it takes to pull an engine and perform the inspection would be measured in man hours. Four days worth of work is 32 man hours. If it takes a team of two that cuts it to sixteen. If a team of four that cuts it to eight hours. Keep time in perspective when it comes to work.