Astronauts in orbit could soon be using robots to explore lunar or planetary surfaces without having to expose themselves to the dangers of the extraterrestrial environment. A paper by Kjetil Wormnes and his colleagues based at the European Space Agency (ESA), Noordwijk, The Netherlands, published in the De Gruyter journal Open Astronomy, presents a simulated geological exploration mission in which, for the first time,astronauts in the International Space Station obtained direct haptic feedback from robots that they control on the ground, "feeling" objects that they manipulate.

Human interplanetary exploration is inspirational but it is still, largely, the stuff of science fiction; it is almost 50 years since somebody last set foot on the moon, and crewed expeditions beyond our satellite are still decades away.

During the last half-century, however, many missions have taken robots to planetary surfaces, and they can operate in conditions that are far too hostile for human astronauts, but they need direct human control if they are to undertake complex missions.