14 DAY TRIAL // All American scientific research that is conducted on the International Space Station (ISS) will from now on be controlled by a nonprofit organization. NASA decided to outsource control of its studies and experiments, in hopes that the group it selected will managed them better.
The new organization will be based at the Space Life Sciences Laboratory, which is located quite near to the agency's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The group is called the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space Inc. (CASIS).
According to officials at NASA, this decision could help make the ISS more attractive as a testbed to a larger number of scientific, technological and industrial researchers. Now that the orbital lab is finally completed, it's time to make the most of it.
CASIS will receive about $15 million per year to monitor and managed science and research activities on the space lab. NASA is asking that all the research facilities aboard the ISS be opened to experts from around the world.
If the 15 countries involved in the project can provided the money, the station could remain in orbit by 2020. It already took 13 years to assemble the $100 billion facility, but thus far it hasn't been used at its full potential, Space reports.
“The space station is the centerpiece of NASA's human spaceflight activities, and it is truly a national asset. This agreement helps us ensure the station will be available for broad, meaningful and sustained use,” a statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden reads.
NASA and non-NASA scientists alike will have equal opportunities to use the station, CASIS members say. Studies will be focused on both basic and applied scientific fields, with the express goal of maximizing the potential scientific return.
The organization will also conduct a series of educational activities in schools and colleges around the country, whose goal is to increase awareness of the studies being conducted on the ISS among students.
The American space agency launched a call for a partner on February 14, 2011, as instructed in the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 that was adopted last October. The ISS was designated a national laboratory about 6 years ago.