what is the purpose of having international space station?

Question

why do we require space station

Answer 1

The International Space Station

The International Space Station is the largest and most complex international scientific project in history. And when it is complete just after the turn of the century, the the station will represent a move of unprecedented scale off the home planet. Led by the United States, the International Space Station draws upon the scientific and technological resources of 16 nations: Canada, Japan, Russia, 11 nations of the European Space Agency and Brazil.

More than four times as large as the Russian Mir space station, the completed International Space Station will have a mass of about 1,040,000 pounds. It will measure 356 feet across and 290 feet long, with almost an acre of solar panels to provide electrical power to six state-of-the-art laboratories.

The station will be in an orbit with an altitude of 250 statute miles with an inclination of 51.6 degrees. This orbit allows the station to be reached by the launch vehicles of all the international partners to provide a robust capability for the delivery of crews and supplies. The orbit also provides excellent Earth observations with coverage of 85 percent of the globe and over flight of 95 percent of the population. By the end of this year, about 500,000 pounds of station components will be have been built at factories around the world.


Commercialization: As part of the Commercialization of space research on the station, industries will participate in research by conducting experiments and studies aimed at developing new products and services. The results may benefit those on Earth not only by providing innovative new products as a result, but also by creating new jobs to make the products.

Answer 2

Purpose Of International Space Station

Answer 3

International Space Station Purpose

Answer 4

There are lots of good answers but answer by "scorp" stands out.

But I will answer your Q? from my perspective.

Space exploration was a race for achievements in space at one time. It was all about National pride and prestige.Once various countries achieve certain status, it became apparent that instead of competing and re-inventing the wheel individually, if these countries were to work together then lot can be achieved, economically, and duplication of the efforts can be avoided.

Hence the idea of International space station.

Main purpose is to probe the space, and do basic and advance research.

Do we require space station?

We have made commitment to this endeavour, we do not require any thing until we have them, then as a rule they become indispensable.

Because of the space exploration/industries we are enjoying so many side benefits in all fields and all walks of life without realising or even thinking about it.

Answer 5

Good question. Originally, the expectation was to use it as a staging post for ferrying people and supplies to and from the moon in order to begin proper colonization efforts out there. Later, it could also be used as a staging post between earth and mars. Since it is in orbit, space-ships departing and arriving there don't require the added complication of being able to take off and land on earth. Unfortunately, that idea now seems to have been abandoned, and NASA is talking about flying moon missions directly from earth, just like they did 30 years ago. Consequently, the ISS is left as something of a white elephant- probably irrelevant to long term space exploration and industrialisation, and thus an unjustifiable expense. It's a bit of a shambles, and all because NASA is seemingly incapable of coming up with a long term plan and actually sticking to it. Don't worry though, given the recent developments in organised, private space-craft (Virgin Galactic's procurement of the Space Ship One concept for example), it is likely that cost effective travel into near orbit will become available despite NASA, making the construction and maintenance of space stations somewhat easier.

Answer 6

If you're asking with emphasis on the word International, then the answer is: Same purpose as international airports, for lower cost and higher efficiency. If all cooperating nations with space programs share the cost and benefits of maintaining only one, then the risk of a collision around earth's orbit by mutliple stations with the existent traffic of satellites in orbit as of today is minimized, not to mention the event of a dozen space stations falling from the sky due to freak acc1dents. Besides just think of how much it'll cost for one country to build, launch and maintain one space station. And then there's the paranoia of nations suspecting the other of maintaining nuclear weapons on stations. With only one, it's easier to monitor and everyone helps out leading to more efficient operation. But if you're asking as to why build a space station per se, then the answer is: First and foremost, for research purposes. The space is considered as the last frontier. Sooner or later, we humans will venture out there when we have all but depleted our resources and overpopulation makes it neccessary. Secondary to that is economics. It'll costs less to keep the researchers in orbit to monitor ongoing projects and also to facilitate refueling and resupply than it is to launch a shuttle into orbit every time they need to do something in space.

Answer 7

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what is the purpose of having international space station?
why do we require space station

Answer 8

Most of the missions are supply missions, so I guess we've learned how much it costs to maintain it. I think we should be expanding our manned space missions, just just maintaining them with no goal of exploration. But it fact, it appears we're even going to cut down on what we already have, so I see no point in it at all. Building a base on the moon should have been the next logical step. If the ISS taught us anything, it should have been to get us closer to that goal.

Answer 9

Parallel research is waste and one such reearch is space research.If there is a common space station all resourcess can be pooled together and out of coordinated efforts results can be quicker and better and there can not be any duplication.

Answer 10

If Nasa and other space agencies were a little more ambitious, we would have been in Mars and visiting the moons of Jupiter by manned spacecrafts.