The The future of scientificexperimentation and exploration may

The The future of scientificexperimentation and exploration may

The International Space Station is the doorway to the future of mankind and the world as it is known. The scientific and medical discoveries that will be made on the station could create billions of dollarsannually.

A plan like this, arranged to benefit the whole world economy, should sound like a good idea toevery person, but some believe that the ISS is too risky, too ineffective, or too costly to create. Whether ornot the space station is worth the money, time, and effort, one thing is clear, everyone is interested in thisvirtual floating laboratory and what assets or liabilities it will bring. The future of scientificexperimentation and exploration may be located, not on earth, but on the man made island called theInternational Space Station.

Of all the factors that go into building a space station, construction of the massive object is the mosttedious objective. During the building of the ISS, tensions have run high several times when deadlineswere missed or funds were not available. This space station is the most expansive mission the world hasever encountered. The International Space Station will be a fifteen country mission. When finished, itwill boast over an acre of solar panels for heating and energy, have a volume roughly sizable to two jumbojets, and contain four times the electrical power of the Russian space station, Mir.

It will takeapproximately forty-five flights over the next five years to assemble the one hundred pieces of the stationwhile circling the orbit of the earth (Goldin 11). This floating station, the size of a large football stadium,which is traveling at over 17,500 miles per hour around the earth, will have a minimum life expectancy ofonly ten years, although scientists hope for a much longer time. The station is so large that it willsometimes be visible by the naked eye during the night (Chang 12). Many people agree with the idea ofsome sort of space laboratory, but wonder why it has to cost so many tax dollars.

Some estimates for thestation confirm that the cost has been underestimated by billions of dollars. Late last year Boeing beat outseveral other competitors for the prestigious position of main contractor. NASA agreed to sign a 5.

6billion dollar contract with Boeing to build many of the essential parts of the space station. Russia is alsoplacing trust in this airplane superpower. They signed a 180 million dollar contract to build the FunctionalCargo Block, the unit that will provide power to stabilize the station (Bizony 87). The International Space Station may provide many scientific discoveries, but everyone will pay for it. This project will become the most expensive project in space since the 1969 mission of Apollo 13 to themoon. The total estimated cost will be over twenty billion dollars (8).

On the International Space Station, there will be a large variety of experiments ranging fromimprovements of industry to medical advances. The largest portion of time will be devoted to scientificexperimentation and discovery. The ISS will create advances that will assist scientists to better understandthe mysteries of the physical, chemical, and biological world. Without gravity they may conceive thetechnological discoveries that will boost all economies (Goldin 11).

One thing the astronauts will use intheir pursuit of knowledge is remote telescience. It is an advanced technology that allows scientists on theground to monitor the progress of the experiments on the station. This will keep people on Earth up todate on the data collection that is occurring in space. Telescience will use interactive data and video linksto make the connection as realistic as possible (Science Facilities 7).

The populous sometimes askswhat the station will do scientifically. The International Space Station will try to answer questions thathave bothered deep thinkers for years. The affect of no gravity on living things, any mental and physicalaffect on humans in space, and the growth of better materials in space that will create better products onEarth will all be explored in hopes of becoming better understood. Hopefully, scientists will be able toanswer these questions and many more on the International Space Station (Chang 12). NASA has confirmed that microgravity, the almost weightless condition of space, is one of thelargest factors in the experiments that will occur aboard the International Space Station.

The affects ofgravity and microgravity on animals, plants, cells, and microorganisms will be studied on the station. Artificial gravity can be adapted from 0.01 G, almost entirely weightless, to 2G, twice the earths gravity,to fit the experiment (Science Facilities 1). Gravitational biology is a major research topic dealing withmicrogravity. It is the study of gravitys influence on living things such as plants and animals.

This willhelp astronauts conclude definitely what will happen to humans on long trips and stays on Mars (6). The Optical Window is a special window that will monitor natural events with cameras, sensors, and otherdevices. The window will be able to track such disasters as oil spills, hurricanes, and forest fires (3).

The ISS is our best effort to date to provide a laboratory environment where combustion can befully understood. Combustion will help to better understand air pollution, global environmental heating,propulsion, and hazardous waste incineration (Industrial Processes 3). The new experiments oncombustion could save the United States millions of dollars annually because it controls the heating ofhomes, powering of cars, and the production of a large range of synthetic materials (4).

Real combustioncannot take place on Earth. So combustion will be studied in space. On the ground gravity feeds flameswith oxygen and takes away heat. The space stations combustion facility will do research on gas, liquid,and solid fuels which already yields eighty-five percent of the worlds energy production (ScienceFacilities 4). Combustion is the release of chemical energy.

Combustion research on the station will leadto less pollution in the industries and the production of advanced materials which will have very largepayoffs for the economy (2). Since the computer age began, microchips have become smaller and more efficient every year. On the International Space Station, The multinational crew will spend one half of its time working onscience. Many experiments will deal with improving the microchip and the silicon that makes it up(DiChristina 77). Finding cures for many medical problems is one hope for the space station. One of the mostimportant missions of the station will be to search for cures to earthly diseases. The International SpaceStation will provide information that might lead to cures for AIDS, Cancer, Diabetes, Emphysema, andOsteoporosis (Lawler 50).

Scientists will find this mission an ideal spot to study the human biologywithout the restraints of gravity. A cure for Cancer might be found in space. In orbit, Cancer cells growin solid clumps because gravity does not flatten them. Therefore the space station will be the best effortyet to search for treatments because they can be studied three dimensionally (Bizony 120). Some thinkthat protein crystals are the answer to many cures. They are associated with every disease on Earth. Ifthey can be understood deadly diseases may be curable (DiChristina 77).

Aging has always been a large concern for many people on Earth. Soon that may not be as largeof a problem. Research from previous shuttle missions and Mir have shown that some of the processesthat occur in a person when they get older are the same processes that also affect the astronauts on amission in space. Problems such as weakening of the heart, muscles, and bones, disturbed sleep patterns,abnormal immune system, and problems balancing affect both groups the same ways. Therefore, someaspects of aging may be curable if scientists can find a connection between the two (Our health 1). NASA is trying to learn more about the affects of weightlessness on their astronauts during longmissions. They plan to use the International Space Station as one means to do so.

On the space station,scientists will discover ways to predict the effects of weightlessness on travelers to Mars (7). It hasalready been 1earned that living in space for any extended period of time is not good on a persons health. Scientists plan to explore why and will study the effects of prolonged weightlessness on the human bodyand mind (Bizony 113). Developers working for NASA are creating some of the most technologicallyadvanced machines ever made which are specially formulated for experimentation on the InternationalSpace Station. It would be very hazardous and not practical for NASA to return an ill or hurt member ofthe station back to the United States. Therefore, NASA is improving computer systems that will be able todiagnose and help treat any injury that may occur while on the station. These machines, along withmedically trained astronauts, will create a very small need for return missions to Earth due to healthconsiderations (Our health 3).

To deliver the best medicine possible, the space station will be equippedwith virtual reality and medical monitoring systems like those found in hospitals. Cyber surgery, a type ofvirtual reality, will be used in the extreme cases of a medical emergency (4). The human body will be thoroughly studied while in space to conclude if there are any long term affectson the body during space travel.

The experiments will be broken into three basic categories: bones,tissues, and cells. The space station will have a special laboratory called the Bioreactor which willreproduce human tissues and cells. The Bioreactor will be able to create Cancerous cell tissue calledtumors from a few individual cancer cells.

Some think that while in space, the space station will findhealthier alternatives to a cure for Cancer other than the very harmful chemotherapy. Scientists plan tomake healthy tissue outside the body in a space laboratory and then transfer the tissue into a body withdamaged tissue. This is possible because in space cells are not crushed by the pressure of gravity. Theygrow three dimensionally like those which occur naturally in the body (Our health 5).

Besides cures forcancer, how to fight bone loss will be considered. Bone loss is one of the major reasons astronauts cannotstay in space for extended periods of time. Once bone loss can be controlled, NASA will be capable ofbringing all men and women back in perfect health (Chang 13). I view the space shuttle program as a stepping stone to the ultimate program that willguarantee prolonged efforts in microgravity.

.. Ultimately our hope is to be able tocrystallize proteins in microgravity, conduct all x-ray data collection experiments in spaceand transmit the data to Earth for processing. This can only be done in a space station(Our health 9). One of the reasons the International Space Station is so important is because it offers the chance forexperiments to be done at all times during the year instead of making scientists wait for weeks, months, oreven years to get their experiments tested. The space station will mean that industry will become moreinvolved in the space research which will benefit both areas into the future (6). On the space station, realindustrial improvement will be a reality.

Semiconductors have already been grown that are of a recordquality. They have all been created as a thin film by the Wakeshield Facility. It creates a vacuum largerthan one ever created on Earth. This leads to improvements in the computer industry.

The improvementscould mean billions of dollars for industry (Industrial processes 7). Oil refinement provides the UnitedStates will over 90 billion dollars revenue annually. Zeolights, which are used in the refinement process ofpetroleum products, are being enhanced dramatically in space. This could create a 400 million dollarincrease in the United States economy (7).

All industry will be effected because space does not have the limitations of Earth. Due tomicrogravity, crystal production is not hindered. Ergo, scientists can concentrate on the phenomenon of solidification, crystal growth, fluid flow, and combustion like they have never been able to before whichtranslates into large profits for all countries involved in construction and care of the International SpaceStation (8). Microgravity is very unique. It will be the factor that affects and inspires the production ofmany of the products that have not even been dreamed of yet by inventors and scientists. By delving intothe practical uses of microgravity, it is easy to see that many new alloys, ceramics, glasses, polymers, andsemiconductors can be improved, redesigned, or created (Industrial Processes 1).

When viewing thewhole spectrum of the space station, many scientists have agreed that microgravity is the most importantfactor. It could create treatments for previously incurable diseases, better materials and alloys for industry,and more efficient forms of fuel and petroleum products. Microgravity is an important factor becausecompared to the gravity on earth, space has one-millionth the force pressing down on objects. Thisaccounts for the willingness of people to spend billions of dollar on experiments that can only beperformed in one place, the International Space Station (DiChristina 77).

Besides increasing the worth of the economy, the International Space Station will also help earthscience research. The Optical Window will help study the daily buildup and positions of the clouds. Thismay help to predict droughts and therefore prepare vegetation. Also available will be key informationabout our atmosphere. To test in the greatest detail some of the fundamental laws that govern our physical world,it is often necessary to go beyond the surface of the Earth..

.Thus, NASA and its academic,industrial, and international partners will use the microgravity environment of the ISS toconduct fundamental scientific studies that have as their goal to contribute to the worldssupply of knowledge, which will one day enable the technology of future generations(Fundamental Knowledge 6) Many people consider the International Space Station a excellent chance for improvement of medical,technological, and industrial processes, but there are a few skeptics who are unsure of any benefit at all. These people have questioned the purposes and objectives of the scientists who believe it is a service. Many state that there is no substantial evidence to prove that the International Space Station will fulfill anyof the aspirations people have pressed upon it.

Others point to the fact that it may only be able to remainin space for ten years which is not long enough to do anything that is very conclusive. Still, others contend that the International Space Station is a small price to pay for the usefulness it will provide in the future. The mixed reviews have left nothing but confusion in their path. No matter what anyone says or thinks,only time will tell. Since the Cold War, Russia has fallen from the status of superpower, and its spaceprogram has become almost non-existent. Since Russia first joined the International Space Station team,the Russians have been continually behind schedule but always promising the job is almost finished. Theyhave frequently run out of funds which had to be given to them by the United States and other partners,and several times they threatened to drop out of the project all together.

Russia is only the United Statesfirst problem. Although it is called the International Space Station and is considered a multinationalproject, it is obvious that United States dollars are supporting most of the sagging project (89). The cost isone of the most debated topics on the subject. Once having a price as low as eight to fifteen billiondollars, the cost has since skyrocketed to the exorbitant amount of over 96 billion dollars by the end of theproject in 2006. The International Space Station is already over a decade late, and the price is soaringinto the billions of dollars over the original price tag.

Some are beginning to wonder if the InternationalSpace Station is a floating white elephant. Boeing admitted it has underestimated the potential cost by asmuch as 800 million dollars just for its contract alone (88). On the other hand, some people believe it is worth the price. For nine dollars less than theaverage American pays for snack or junk food yearly, NASA can build the International Space Stationwhich could become a scientific pinnacle from which the benefits would be felt for years (Abatemarco 9). Some critics wonder whether any scientific progress that the space station will make will create a highenough profit to make up for the gigantic cost of the station.

Some scientists are concerned that the spacestation will have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Most of the functions of the space station havedisappeared. NASA is mortgaging its future for the next twenty years (Kluger 90).

Some even disagreeon whether microgravity is a valid determinant. Not everyone thinks that research on microgravity will bethe least beneficial. Some say that it is one of the least important factors you can have (DiChristina 76). In the end it is debatable whether the International Space Station will give us enough scientific informationto make the planning, cost, and maintenance worthwhile.

One of the main topic to be researched, proteincrystals are fragile and with a single bump, which happens a lot in space, the project is ruined (Kluger 91).There is no information of yet that is going to tell anyone the outcome of the experiments on theInternational Space Station. It is a complex machine that may create fantastic results or become a largewaste of time and effort, but until the world tries, it will never know which might be the mostdisappointing thing of all. For now, all anyone has is hope for a brighter future, and the chance that theInternational Space Station may bring them a step closer to that reality. The orbiting laboratory serves asa symbol of our future.

A future that embodies the dreams of our children and that promises untolddiscoveries for the next millennium. One that fulfills our innate human nature to explore. And one thatbenefits all people of all nations. (Goldin 11) The International Space Station is the beginning. It is thebeginning of a world that is working towards a better understanding of everything around it.

Astronomy