Uhran said it is too early in the station program to gauge its success on scientific output, which so far has been meager. The agency's Web site lists 172 station-related research papers -- many of which were not published in peer-reviewed journals. References to Hubble-related published science results, in contrast, number more than 3,500. "Judging the station at this time on its scientific output is a red herring," said John Logdon, a space policy analyst with George Washington University. "It's just getting started." Hubble itself didn't reach its scientific apex until decades after its development, construction and launch, Uhran added. "During that period, I'd easily say that the preponderance of testimony was that Hubble was not worthwhile (and should be canceled), but you look through the Hubble operational phase and there's no doubt that this was not the right thing to do. I think station is going to be the same way," Uhran said. Robert Park, a physicist with the University of Maryland, sees a key difference between the station and Hubble. "No one has any idea what to do with the space station. We know what to do with a telescope," Park told Discovery News. "The ISS is just a way of keeping human beings in space. It's flag-pole sitting." Park said he and other scientists originally believed microgravity would be the Holy Grail for many materials science programs, such as the creation of large, nearly perfect protein crystals. Years of research on the space shuttle and previous space stations proved fruitless, he said. "It turns out the force of gravity is so weak compared to inter-atomic forces that they just don't make an impact," he said. About the only station science program that Park believes has merit, is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer physics experiment, which the United States had dropped from shuttle's manifest. The new NASA budget restores funding to fly AMS to the station next year. Related Links: Irene Klotz's Blog: Free Space |
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