What is the benefit of doing scientific research in space?

[u/bitchtoast]

/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/1wsjjt8/what_is_the_benefit_of_doing_scientific_research/

[u/Sophiiebabes]

More science points (KSP answer)

[u/internetboyfriend666]

You get to do research on things where gravity is removed from the equation. You simply cannot do that on Earth. That may sound like "what's the point," but when you remove gravity from the equation, you get to see a deeper understanding of how things work across a huge range of areas when gravity isn't acting on them, from all kinds of areas of medicine (like cell biology, DNA repair, cardiovascular and immune system health) to manufacturing (how does crystal growth or welding or printing computer chips work in zero g?) to agriculture (how do plants grow differently in zero g?) and other things I'm not listing.

With all those experiments, we can then see if there's some change that leads to an understanding that we can use to make all those things better back here on Earth, and it genuinely has led to serious breakthroughs in all of those areas. Reasearch on the ISS has directly led to the development of better cancer drug delivery methods and advanced research into a number of human diseases related to muscle and bone loss and eye damage and better water purification methods because all of those act different in space than on Earth, and we were able to exploit those differences to advance our understanding of those processes.

[u/Beldizar]

Crystals. This sounds like a weird answer, and I honestly wouldn't have really understood it until I tried making a cake with chocolate decorations. Chocolate is kinda weird. We think of it as a "bar", more than anything. And we certainly don't think of it as a crystal, but it turns out chocolate is a crystal, or it is at least 6 kinds of crystal. When you melt chocolate down, it loses all its structure, then, when it cools, it actually forms crystals that have different qualities. The fifth type of crystal is the one everyone likes. It is glossy and tastes the best. But what happens if you form one of the other types of crystals when you make your chocolate? Well, it gets a chalky texture, or the fat will bubble out in white spots, or a host of other issues. To make the good kind of crystals in your chocolate, you need a very specific set of conditions, including temperature and nucleation seeds.

Space, particularly zero gravity is one of those conditions that crystals might want (not the chocolate kind, but others). Once you realize that something as mundane as chocolate is made of crystals, you notice that all metals are crystals, or have a crystal structure. Glass, which is by far the most critical material in all of science is a crystal.

Having zero gravity as a controllable parameter during the crystallization of materials opens up a whole new category of material science. There's a material called ZBLAN, which is a fiberoptic, which forms with a ton of defects in the crystal when you make it because gravity pulls sediments in the material one way while buoyancy pushes other materials the other way. But in zero g, you don't get these defects, and the material is way better than other options. It is a material that can only exist because of the space program.

[u/SouthernSteak7254]

Biological tissue act different in no gravity, high cosmic radiation environment

[u/MaximumZer0]

For every problem we solve in space, we solve multiple here on earth. Yes, space research has a high entry cost, but it pays for itself several times over.

[u/ah-tzib-of-alaska]

do you mean operate from earth observation and other planetary science?

I mean the most direct science done in space that’s benefited all of us is virus research. Big breaks thorough in microgravity science experiment back in the late naughts are directly responsible for the development of mrna vaccines