How do I explain that an interstellar spaceship still requires risky spacewalks?

It is the mid 22nd century A.D. Twenty men and women signed on a ten year space exploration trip to the nearest star system. There are robots to do ship maintenance and a powerful A.I. to monitor the antimatter containment shield around the clock.

For my purposes, I need that from time to time the crews take turns to do high risk spacewalks. Basically they are required to check the solar sails, sensors array and inspect the hull integrity.

My problem is that a reader might think that all of that should be able to be performed remotely. The spaceship is cruising at 10,000,000 m/s _(*), and they are surrounded by a sea of cosmic radiation. So even with safety precautions in place, this is a risky venture.

Hence: how do I explain the risk to the life of the crew on a routine scheduled spacewalk?

_{(*) as suggested by MichaelK. My idea for attaining that speed: nuclear bomb propulsion on strangelet(steroid) + antimatter + EM drive + quantum vacuum thruster hybrid.}

posted about 7 years ago

user6760‭

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