ISS: International Space station research soaring to new heights

As the International Space Station nears completion, NASA and international agencies are ramping up scientific utilization of the outpost, particularly in fields of Earth science.

Although basic research has been conducted aboard the outpost since 2000, the addition of new laboratory facilities and a six-person crew are greatly expanding the station's science capacity and broadening the scope of experiments hosted by the complex.

"Assembly is nearly complete and research is really taking off in lots of new directions. We're at the point now where we can take full advantage of the International Space Station for all the uses it was intended for. It has great access to the space environment for investigators, ample power and telemetry for the data to come down, and also to use as a facility for pathfinder or engineering testbed for new activities," said John Uri, NASA's lead scientist for the station program.

Station residents now spend an average of about 40 crew hours per week on research, up from less than 15 hours before the expansion to a six-person crew in May, Uri said.

The station's NASA, European and Japanese labs are now home to 21 refrigerator-sized internal experiment racks. More pressurized payloads are due for delivery next year.

Eighteen power and data ports for large external experiments have already been delivered to the complex's U.S., European and Japanese segments. Ten sites are available on Japan's Kibo laboratory module's exposed facility, and four locations each are located on the European Space Agency's Columbus lab and two ExPRESS logistics carriers brought to the station during the shuttle Atlantis' recently-completed mission.

Two more ExPRESS carriers are scheduled for launch to the station next year, adding four more experiment sites.

Other experiment platforms are on the outpost's Russian segment.

Uri said Earth observation, astrophysics, solar science and materials research payloads could use the exposed sites.

The demand for research on the station is still unclear, and officials could not predict if all the exterior ports would ever be occupied, especially given serious concerns that the space shuttle's retirement will limit opportunities for future experiment deliveries. Read More........