CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- American scientists initially discounted research on space station Alpha as too expensive or lacking potential for breakthroughs.
Now, a year since construction began in earnest on the station, it is still hard to find a scientist outside of NASA who expects much progress from station research.
"It's impossible to name a field of science that has been changed, or even altered, by this kind of research," said Robert Park, a materials researcher and spokesman for the American Physical Society.
The station's greatest potential may be in space science and technology spinoffs.
But NASA isn't making its case to scientists from other disciplines very well, cutting scientific study on the station by 40 percent overall with crew time on science dropped from 180 hours a week to 20. Robots now will do much of the work. The cuts were meant to make up for $4 billion in cost overruns on the station.
"You finally end up with a science station that does not do science," Park said.
NASA will decide by August which experiments to cut out of the station's future. Life science research, which requires considerable crew time, is on the block, as is any research requiring intense astronaut supervision.
Some biological work can continue, such as protein crystal growth and other objects that can be observed remotely. Genetic research pioneer Michael Blaese, one of three doctors who administered the first-ever gene therapy, typifies many scientists' expectations for the space station.
"In general, I think space research is cool," Blaese said from his Pennsylvania office. "In my field, I don't see how it would be affected by weightlessness."
Microbiology is one field NASA had hoped to impact the most with research in weightless conditions - known as "microgravity" because the orbiting station still experiences some of Earth's pull. The space agency envisioned cells growing unencumbered by gravity, giving scientists ideas of the way they work and how to fix them.
But while the station sat on drawing boards and factory floors, Earthbound researchers continued to make inroads, mapping genetic codes and improving medical treatments.
For NASA, the criticism cuts to the heart of the station's mission because microgravity research is the only capability the station has left. Other functions, such as hangars to build interplanetary spacecraft and orbiting "garages" to repair and refuel satellites were axed in previous design changes.
Now, if the station's microbiology research is going to pay-off, Blaese expects it to come far in the future.
"I could see in the far-out future maybe a method for hibernating humans for trips out to the stars," he said.
Materials researchers like Park mostly study forces on the atomic level. Gravity plays a small role in keeping structures together, he said.
Meanwhile, John Uri, lead scientist for Alpha's second crew, said researchers anticipate much less biological science work such studying cell growth, analyzing blood samples and animal research.
Biology experiments require a lot of crew time, Uri said.
The outpost has 18 experiments operating now, including radiation monitoring and crystal growth research. A remote camera that middle school students arranged to have pointed at Earth is the only completed project. Fourteen others are still taking data.
Scientists have grown protein crystals in space whenever they've had the chance. The tiny structures grow larger in weightlessness, letting researchers evaluate how they take shape and why. NASA publications often point to these experiments as research keystones.
In fields such as space science, many agree with NASA's Administrator Dan Goldin: There is simply no better place to perform space research than in space.
NASA has a strong record of profitable spin-offs for manufacturers. Small vacuum cleaners, smoke detectors and sophisticated medical equipment derived from NASA's basic research.
"NASA's the place where we would get technology to build our next generation machine," said Jose de la Torre-Bueno, vice president of ChromaVision, a California company that makes cancer-tracking computers. "Not so much the zero-gravity work which the station is suited to, but the image analysis work with the planetary probes."
Published under license from FLORIDA TODAY. Copyright © 2001 FLORIDA TODAY. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any way without the written consent of FLORIDA TODAY.
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