Il futuro credo sarà a favore Delle strutture più semplici meno costose ma anche più affidabili.
(Vecchio adagio del mio prof. Meno roba c’è, meno si può rompere qualcosa).
Cmq anche per la ISS si parla di ipotesi di futuro commerciale.
https://www.investors.com/news/boeing-sees-international-space-station-business-potential-as-nasa-eyes-iss-privatization/
Oltre agli articoli di astronauti news sugli weekly status report degli esperimenti fatti sulla ISS, dall’articolo si evince :
There are already commercial technology advances on earth thanks to the ISS.
Biotech Amgen (AMGN) claimed it developed its Prolia and Xgeva osteoporosis drugs quicker on the ISS than on the ground, said Scott Copeland, Boeing’s senior manager for research integration, specialty and systems engineering on the ISS.
Printing organs for people on the transplant list could be a viable ISS business too. Sometime this year, Techshot will send up its 3D space biofabrication lab to the ISS to test organ printing in microgravity.
Currently, stomachs and other pliable organs can be printed on earth with the help of a supporting structure. However, a more complex organ like a heart can’t be printed because it would be damaged by gravity when the support scaffolding is removed.
Copeland also said that stem cells have been developed faster in microgravity vs. on earth.
Fiber optics are another possible commercial growth area for the ISS. Gravity causes fibers grown on earth to have impurities and misshapen crystals. But an experiment by Made In Space last year found that fibers grown in microgravity didn’t have the same impurities.
Ecco perché imho è importante che si possa incrementare la possibilità di ricerca su stazioni spaziali, aumentandone il numero.
Da notare…secondo Boeing che :
The ISS also has a long potential service life to capitalize on its commercial potential. The space station could last until at least 2040 with routine maintenance, he said.