|
|
|
|
| Why build the International Space Station? |
| When studying sound, you go into a quiet room. When studying light, you go into a dark room. When studying the effects of gravity, you’d like to go into an “anti-gravity” room. Since there’s no such thing on Earth, we have the International Space Station. By flying around the Earth at approximately 17,500 mph, the Station and everything in it, remain in orbit, a continuous free fall around the planet. In orbit, forces are balanced and the effects of gravity are essentially removed. The result is microgravity, one of the unique aspects of the ISS environment that holds the hope of new discovery. The ISS thus allows long-term exposure to a world nearly unexplored. Gravity affects everything. From our bodies, to the materials we use to build cars and buildings, to the flames we use to heat our homes, our world is controlled by gravity. For as long as humans have curiously investigated our surroundings, we have been limited, until recently, to accepting gravity as a given in all our studies. History shows that changing what once were constants, can lead to revolutionary discoveries. The 19th Century saw temperature and pressure controlled in new ways to harness steam power and revolutionize the way people lived. The 21st Century offers the hope of controlling gravity’s effects to understand why things behave the way they do. Observing and understanding this behavior is key to new discoveries in many scientific disciplines and using that knowledge is key to the betterment of life on Earth. The Space Station Mir provided a platform to begin this research, and important knowledge about how to live and work in space. As with all research, we must proceed one step at a time. As one door opens, answering one question, the opportunity of more doors and more questions presents itself. The ISS is the next step in that journey of discovery, and represents a quantum leap in our capability to conduct research on orbit. In space, electrical power is key to the quantity and quality of research. STS-97 will install the first of 4 U.S. solar arrays on the ISS. These photovoltaic cells and the associated batteries will provide up to approximately 20 kilowatts of power to the vehicle to support science and operations. This is enough to power about 10 average homes. When complete, the ISS’s solar panels will supply up to 78 kilowatts of power. This, coupled with the large space available for experiments, will provide scientists with unprecedented access to this unique environment. Aboard the ISS, and through interaction from the ground, scientists will explore basic questions in the fields of biotechnology, biomedical research and countermeasures, fluid physics, fundamental biology, materials science, combustion science, fundamental physics, Earth science and space science. Space-based research will be supported by research on the ground, with only those experiments requiring the microgravity environment selected for flight on the ISS. In addition to serving as a research laboratory, the ISS will sustain and strengthen U.S. leadership in other areas. It will provide opportunity to enhance U.S. economic competitiveness and create new commercial enterprises. Companies can use ISS research to build profit-based businesses. The ISS will maintain the U.S. leadership in space exploration that has inspired a generation of Americans and people throughout the world. Tied in with other NASA assets, the ISS will serve as a virtual classroom in space to the benefit of educators and students alike. Live educational events and programs like EarthKAM, with students operating a camera on the ISS beginning next fall to investigate changes on Earth, will motivate them to understand their world. Education and inspiration will couple to maintain U.S. economic leadership by raising a new generation of science, math, and technology savvy children who will invent 21st century products and services. Finally, the ISS will serve as a testbed and springboard for further exploration of space. We will learn how the human body responds to the long-term exposure to space, and how to best prepare for the next major human steps into the solar system. Research on the International Space Station Early Research Disciplines: Biomedical Research and Countermeasures: Researchers seek to understand and control the effects of the space environment on space travelers (e.g. muscle atrophy, bone loss, and fluid shifts.) Long term Benefits: enhance the safety of space travel; develop methods to keep humans healthy in low-gravity environments; advance new fields of research in the treatment of diseases. Fundamental Biology: Scientists study gravity’s influence on the evolution, development, growth, and internal processes of plants and animals. Their results expand fundamental knowledge that will benefit medical, agricultural, and other industries. Long term Benefits: advance understanding of cell, tissue, and animal behavior; use of plants as sources of food and oxygen for exploration; improved plants for agricultural and forestry. Biotechnology: Microgravity allows researchers to grow three-dimensional tissues that have characteristics more similar to tissues in the body than has ever been previously available and to produce superior protein crystals for drug development. Long term Benefits: culture realistic tissue for use in research (cancerous tumors, organ pieces;) provide information to design a new class of drugs to target specific proteins and cure specific diseases. Fluid Physics: The behavior of fluids is profoundly influenced by gravity. Researchers use gravity as an experimental variable to explain and model fluid behavior in systems on Earth and in space. Long term Benefits: improved spacecraft systems designs for safety and efficiency; better understanding of soil behavior in Earthquake conditions; improved mathematical models for designing fluid handling systems for, powerplants, refineries and innumerable other industrial applications. Additional Research Disciplines (as ISS capabilities continue to expand): Advanced Human Support Technology: Researchers develop technologies, systems, and procedures to enable safe and efficient human exploration and development of space. Long term Benefits: reduce the cost of space travel while enhancing safety; develop small, low power monitoring and sensing technologies with applications in environmental monitoring in space and on Earth; develop advanced waste processing and agricultural technologies with applications in space and on Earth. Materials Science: Researchers use low gravity to advance our understanding of the relationships among the structure, processing and properties of materials. In low gravity, differences in weight of liquids used to form materials do not interfere with the ability to mix these materials opening the door to a whole new world of composite materials. Long term Benefits: advance understanding of processes for manufacturing semiconductors, metals, ceramics, polymers, and other materials; determine fundamental physical properties of molten metal, semiconductors, and other materials with precision impossible on Earth. Combustion Science: The removal of gravity allows scientists to simplify the study of complex combustion (burning) processes. Since combustion is used to produce 85 percent of Earth’s energy, even small improvements in efficiency and reduction of soot production (a major source of pollution on earth) will have large environmental and economic benefits. Long term Benefits: enhance efficiency of combustion processes; enhance fire detection and safety on Earth and in Space; improve control of combustion emissions and pollutants. Fundamental Physics: Scientists use the low gravity and low temperature environment to slow down reactions allowing them to test fundamental theories of physics with degrees of accuracy that far exceed the capacity of Earthbound science. Long term Benefits: challenge and expand theories of how matter organizes as it changes state (important in understanding superconductivity); test fundamental theories in physics with precision beyond the capacity of Earth-bound science; potential for improved magnetic materials. Earth Science and Space Science: Space Station will be a unique platform with multiple exterior attach points from which to observe the Earth and the Universe. Long term Benefits: Space Scientists will use the location above the atmosphere to collect and search for cosmic rays, cosmic dust, antimatter and “dark” matter. Earth Scientists can obtain global profiles of aerosols, ozone, water vapor, and oxides in order to determine their role in climatological processes and take advantage of the longevity of ISS to observe global changes over many years. |
