Reading

READING PASSAGE 3
you should spend about 20 minutes on Queatlons 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3
beloW.

sc•ence •n Space
How will NASA transform the International Space Station from a building site
into a cutting-edge research laboratory?
A premier, world-class laboratory In low Earth couldn't be tested for long enough to prove whether
orbit. That was how the National Aeronautics they were effective. It's been calculated that to
and Space Administration agency (NASA) sold properly assess a centrifuge's impact on human
the lntemational Space Station (ISS) to the US physiology, astronauts would have to ride it for 30
Congress in 2001.Today no one can doubt the minutes a day for at least two months. 'The only
agency's technological ambition. The most complex way to test this is in weightlessness, and the only
engineering project ever attempted has created an time we have to do that is on the space station:
enormous set of interlinked modules that orbits says Laurence Young, a space medicine expert at the
the planet at more than 27,000 kilometres per hour. Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology.
It might be travelling fast but, say critics, as a lab it is There are certainly plenty of ideas for other
going nowhere. So far, it has gone through experiments: but many projects have yet to fly.
$1 SO billion. Even if the centrifuge project gets the green light,
So where should its future priorities lie? This it will have to wait another five years before the
question was addressed at the recent I st annual station's crew can take a spin. Lengthy delays
ISS research and development conference in like this are one of the key challenges for NASA,
Colorado.Among the presenters was Satoshi lwase according to an April 20 I I report from the US
of Aichi Medical University in Japan who has spent National Academy of Sciences. Its authors said
several years developing an experiment that could they were 'deeply concerned' about the state of
help solve one of the key problems ~hat humans NASA's science research, and made a number
will face in space: keeping our bodies healthy in of recommendations. Besides suggesting that
weightlessness. One thing that physiologists have the agency reduces the time between approving
learned is that without gravity our bodies begin experiments and sending them into space, it also
to lose strength, leaving astronauts with weakened recommended setting clearer research priorities.
bones, muscles and cardiovascular systems. To NASA has already begun to take action, hiring
counter these effects on a long-duration mission management consultants ProOrbis to develop a plan
to, say, Mars, astronauts will almost certainly to cut through the bureaucracy.And Congress also
need to create their own artificial gravity.This is
directed NASA to hire an independent organisation,
where lwase comes in. He leads a team designing
the Centre for the Advancement of Science in
a centrifuge for humans. In their preliminary
Space (CASIS), to help manage the station's US lab
design, an astronaut is strapped into the seat of a
facilities. One of CASIS's roles is to convince public
machine that resembles an exercise bike. Pedalling
and private investors that science on the station
provides a workout for the astronaut's muscles and
is worth the spend because judged solely by the
cardiovascular system, but it also causes the seat to
number of papers published, the ISS certainly seems
rotate vertically around a central axis so the rider
poor value: research on the station has generated
experiences artificial gravity while exercising.
about 3, I 00 papers since 1998.The Hubble Space
The centrifuge project highlights the station's Telescope, meanwhile, has produced more than
potential as a research lab. Similar machines have 11,300 papers in just over 20 years, yet it cost less
flown in space aboard NASA's shuttles, but they than one-tenth of the price of the space station.
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Yet Mark Uhran, assistant associate administrator 'Others know there's science, but they don't kn
for the ISS, refutes the criticism that the station what kind.'
hasn't done any useful research. He points to According to Alan Stern, planetary scientist, the
progress made on a salmonella vaccine, for example. biggest public relations boost for the ISS may come
To get the ISS research back on track, CASIS has f m the privately funded space flight industry.
examined more than I 00 previous microgravity ~mpanies like SpaceX could help NASA and its
experiments to identify promising research themes. partners when it comes to resupplying the IS~, as it
From this, it has opted to focus on life science and it can reduce launch costs by two-thirds.
suggests
medical research, and recently called for proposals .
Vl~I'n Atlantic's SpaceShipTwo or Zero 21nfi,n,:...1i h'gh
.., s , •
for experiments on muscle wasting, osteoporosis h • '
altitude balloon could also boost t e space sta~on s
and the immune system. The organisation also
• •rssths
l
,ortunes. They might not come close to the
maintains that the ISS should be used to develop
orbit, yet Stern believes they will revo1ut1onise . e
products with commercial application and to test
way we, the public, see space. Soon e:eryone ~II be
those that are either close to or already on the
dreaming of interplanetary travel again, he pr~d1cts.
market Investment from outside organisations is
More importandy, scientists are alrea~ queu,n~
vital, says Uhran, and a balance between academic
for seats on these low-gravity space-fh~ht services
and commercial research will help attract this.
so they can collect data during a few minutes of
The station needs to attract cutting-edge research, weighdessness. This demand for low.-cost s~ce
yet many scientists seem to have little idea what flight could eventually lead to a service running on a
goes on aboard it Jeanne Di Francesco at ProOrbis more frequent basis, giving researchers the chance
conducted more than 200 interviews with people to test their ideas before submitting a proposal for
from organisations with potential interests in low experiments on the ISS. Getting flight ~perience
gravity studies. Some were aware of the ISS but should help them win a slot on the station, says Stem.
they didn't know what's going on up there, she says.

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