Comment Re:Robots, not people (Score 1) 277
The ISS, as we all know, is incomplete. And while I haven't studied the matter extensively, I would not be surprised if we're also still working out what kinds of experiments might be better served by being performed in microgravity. Don't shoot down the ISS before it's complete and a full assessment can be done. Even the ability to better determine the effects of longer term near zero-G environments on the human body alone could be considered priceless to the effort to break out of this solitary egg basket ... :)
I'm not saying the ISS is guaranteed to have a good ROI, but it might very well be one of those things where you need a high initial investment to get the long term gains. And when you're talking about such subjects as the potential survival of the human race (if you're of the belief that we need to get enough of us off this rock for the species to withstand the potential destruction of its cradle), sometimes such prices can be considered "cheap".
I don't know if that's how I think about it, but I'm not ready to write the ISS off just yet. And the sci-fi geek in me hopes it lives up to all the promise it has and more ... :) Who knows, maybe the ISS *is* just one more step towards Jupiter Station and the Utopia Planetia... :)
I'm not saying the ISS is guaranteed to have a good ROI, but it might very well be one of those things where you need a high initial investment to get the long term gains. And when you're talking about such subjects as the potential survival of the human race (if you're of the belief that we need to get enough of us off this rock for the species to withstand the potential destruction of its cradle), sometimes such prices can be considered "cheap".
I don't know if that's how I think about it, but I'm not ready to write the ISS off just yet. And the sci-fi geek in me hopes it lives up to all the promise it has and more
