…replication systems without an umbilical cord that connects them to Earth. In the immediate future, humanity could use a swarm of probes to survey the surface of the Moon or Mars for water ice reservoirs that fuel local economies. This would serve plants of electrolysis to break water molecules into their hydrogen and oxygen building-blocks, H2O-> H2+ O, using sunlight-powered electricity, and then use hydrogen or oxygen as fuel to propel rockets or machinery. On Mars it would be beneficial to develop special-purpose probes to survey lava tubes as habitats t…