BBC news is reporting on a new type of research that may get aboard the International Space Station in 2013. This Russian-led endeavor would try to use the vacuum of space to create ultra-pure crystals. We can't do this on Earth because, unlike a perfect vacuum, there is always something hanging out that will lead to an impurity in the crystal.
The research sounds pretty cool and I am sure we can learn a great deal from ultra-pure crystals, but the article then takes a left turn and begins to discuss how the crystals could be applied to everyday technologies to make them better.
I think that is nuts - maybe I am being short sighted - but I just don't see the feasability of scaling-up any product for mass market consumption that can only be produced at zero-gravity in space.
According to NASA, one space shuttle costs $1.7 billion dollars. To put it into space once costs $450 million dollars.
Again, maybe I am being shortsighted.
I am all for basic research. I think this is valuable research that will tell us a great deal about crystal morphology and will certainly improve our techniques for crystal growth on the ground. I just find the commercialization argument here pretty faulty.
What do you think?
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