Today’s solar eclipse is not the only reason to stare — carefully, of course, and behind protective lenses — into the heavens above.
Remember the International Space Station? As the ISS nears completion, thirteen years and €100 billion later, rest assured you will be hearing a lot more about it. A joint research venture run by Canada, Russia, the United States, Japan, and the European Space Agency (ESA), the ISS has been adding modules since 1998, and should finish by next year. While scientists have been working together on the space station for the majority of the construction, the polished and pretty ISS is only slated to be in use until 2015.
Apparently using the most expensive object ever constructed for only four years after completion, then abandoning it to the fate of returning to Earth in a molten heap has attracted a few raised eyebrows. In a bid to have prolonged access to the zero-gravity and microgravity labs, the ESA hopes to extend the life of the space station until at least 2020. When the five space agencies meet this year in Japan, each will have their say, and may perhaps grant the ISS a stay of execution.
The ESA’s bid makes an excellent argument for the breadth of research possibilities the scientists aboard the ISS have explored and will continue to explore, but the majority of the discussion between the partners will most likely concern money. While long-term research conducted aboard the ISS could provide us with new information regarding the effects of climate change and of new medical advances created through microgravity, the funding for space programs has suffered, as more tangible “real world” problems require more and more financing to solve.
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