NASA鈥檚 invitation to other government agencies and private companies to make use of the International Space Station (ISS) appears to have generated little interest. The high cost of getting payloads to the station is deterring potential users, even though NASA is offering room on the station essentially for free.
In December 2005, the US Congress declared the US part of the space station to be a 鈥渘ational laboratory鈥�, and directed NASA to explore how other government agencies and private companies might use the station. It also ordered NASA to report back with plans to make the national laboratory idea a reality.
NASA submitted its in May 2007. In a press conference on Monday, NASA officials described the space agency鈥檚 plans and progress on the national laboratory project.
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Of all its potential public and private partners, only one 鈥� the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 鈥� appears interested enough to be pursuing an agreement with the space agency for use of the space station.
Free rent
Under the national laboratory idea, once the space station construction is complete in 2010, NASA would offer up half of its space on the station to other users for free.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to require users of the space station to pay a fee to have access to the labs,鈥� says Mark Uhran, NASA鈥檚 assistant associate administrator for the International Space Station at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC, US. That would mean NASA would pick up the $1.5 billion per year needed to keep its part of the space station running.
But Uhran said users would have to pay for any time the space station crew spent on the outside projects. And asked who would pay the costs to launch experiments and equipment to the station, Uhran said the agency was 鈥渟till working鈥� on this.
Launch costs
鈥淚t remains to be determined how the transportation will work out,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e all recognise that there鈥檚 going to be a challenge there.鈥�
But he pointed to the agency鈥檚 efforts to help nurture the development of cheap private launch services under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) as reason to be optimistic about the affordability of future launches.
Even so, uncertainty over whether commercial launch services to the space station will be available and what their cost will be is deterring private sector users from signing up to use the space station, according to the agency鈥檚 report to Congress.
And although NASA approached several other government agencies, such as the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, only the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is pursuing an agreement with NASA for use of the station, Uhran says.
Private space station
The NIH is interested in research on human health, including studies related to bones, muscles and the immune system.
Uhran was asked if the space station national laboratory would be in competition with entrepreneur Robert Bigelow鈥檚 plans to sell space on private space stations that his company, Bigelow Aerospace, is planning to launch.
鈥淭hese are two very, very different technical capabilities if you look at them closely,鈥� he replied. He points out that the space station has more advanced facilities, including power, data lines and equipment for venting waste products to space, while the bare-bones Bigelow stations could offer room at lower cost. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more like highly developed property, so we don鈥檛 see that as being in direct competition with what Mr. Bigelow is doing.鈥�
Research cuts
Space policy expert John Logsdon of George Washington University in Washington, DC, US, says the move towards the national laboratory model mandated by Congress was motivated by the desire to keep research alive on the space station following cuts to the space station research budget.
But he is not surprised that other government agencies and private companies are not clamouring to use the space station.
鈥淚f the transportation costs could be significantly lowered, using the station would become a more attractive proposition,鈥� he told New 杏吧原创. 鈥淔or this to be more than symbolic, there has to be some work on making space research affordable for other users,鈥� he says.
The space station is designed to last only until 2016, but officials said it could be pushed to 2020 if there was sufficient interest in continued use of the station.
