Comment Re:Because the current manned space program is bor (Score 1) 526
This reminds me of a story I was told recently at university, when one of my lecturers got a bit side tracked during an inorganic chemistry lecture.
For various reasons, the topic turned to chemistry in space where he brought up the fact that NASA had asked, completely out of the blue, the Chemistry Department for an experiment they could send up on the space shuttle. The department found this a little strange, seeing as, at the time (late eighties) nobody was researching anything that could conceivably be helped or hindered by zero gravity plus, nobody had ever contacted NASA. Given the opportunity and the tight deadline, the department quickly selected the aforementioned lecturer's group for an experiment, which at a push, gravity might have an effect on.
What did his group decide to do? Growing crystals!
A couple of weeks manic work, a flight for the whole group from the UK to US to watch the takeoff and much free food and drink later they get the results back. Unsurprisingly it didn't work, but seeing as it wasn't anybodies main line of work (and the free trip+ food+ drink) nobody was too bothered about it.
What is the moral of this story he told us? That every time you hear about crystals being grown in orbit/low gravity, think of a University Chemistry Department anywhere on the planet, contacted at random, throwing together a not-very-relevant-to-their-line-of-work experiment at short notice so they can say they did it (It is nearly always growing crystals). Think. Why did NASA do this?
The answer is simple. There is very little interesting chemistry to be or can be done in Zero G (in a space shuttle). And NASA has a budget to try and justify.
(Don't get me wrong, I'm all for science in space and a large space budget, but going about it this way is just plain wrong, if the lecturer is correct it still does.)
For various reasons, the topic turned to chemistry in space where he brought up the fact that NASA had asked, completely out of the blue, the Chemistry Department for an experiment they could send up on the space shuttle. The department found this a little strange, seeing as, at the time (late eighties) nobody was researching anything that could conceivably be helped or hindered by zero gravity plus, nobody had ever contacted NASA. Given the opportunity and the tight deadline, the department quickly selected the aforementioned lecturer's group for an experiment, which at a push, gravity might have an effect on.
What did his group decide to do? Growing crystals!
A couple of weeks manic work, a flight for the whole group from the UK to US to watch the takeoff and much free food and drink later they get the results back. Unsurprisingly it didn't work, but seeing as it wasn't anybodies main line of work (and the free trip+ food+ drink) nobody was too bothered about it.
What is the moral of this story he told us? That every time you hear about crystals being grown in orbit/low gravity, think of a University Chemistry Department anywhere on the planet, contacted at random, throwing together a not-very-relevant-to-their-line-of-work experiment at short notice so they can say they did it (It is nearly always growing crystals). Think. Why did NASA do this?
The answer is simple. There is very little interesting chemistry to be or can be done in Zero G (in a space shuttle). And NASA has a budget to try and justify.
(Don't get me wrong, I'm all for science in space and a large space budget, but going about it this way is just plain wrong, if the lecturer is correct it still does.)
