An experiment above all others...

The idea of sending an experiment into space seems completely unachievable for the majority of us… but that could all be about to change says Russ Swan as he get all excited about an Ice Cube

It's a compromise we all have to make when thinking about where to live and work. Do we go for the tiny space in a prime location, or something a bit more generous in a less desirable position?

Space is always at a premium, and modern laboratories are no exception. When I were a lad, you could play a full game of cricket on the lab bench and still have room for spectators.

Slight exaggeration perhaps, but you get the idea. Today's scientists are expected to do more with less, not least because of the on-going miracle of miniaturisation. Just as computers used to occupy rooms yet now fit in pockets, lab instruments have become much smaller at the same time as becoming relatively cheaper and easier to operate. Now that you no longer need a stoker to shovel coal into the furnace of the steam-powered mass spectrometer, you can save on personnel and fuel as well as square metres.

 

“Call me a nerd, but there is one place above all others I'd like to run experiments. Literally above all others…”

 

Let's take this further, and think about a really desirable location to do science, and how much (or how little) bench space we would need once we are there.

Call me a nerd, but there is one place above all others I'd like to run experiments. Literally above all others. 400km up, zipping around the planet at 17,000mph, the International Space Station has to be the ultimate in laboratory real estate.

Despite making myself available, I'm beginning to accept that I probably won’t asked to make my way to Baikonur to don the orange flight suit. The money involved would surely be astronomical anyway. One calculation I've seen is that, if the gross construction and operating costs of the ISS over its lifetime were divided by the time spent on board, it works out at about $7.5million per astronaut per day. That means Tim Peake's hotel bill for his six-month stay in 2015-16 comes to a little over a billion pounds. Gratuities not included, mini-bar extra.

By any measure, that is a LOT. There must be a cheaper way to get some science done?

And there is, or will be. It's going to require a few of those space-over-location compromises, but the cost of space in space is about to get a whole lot cheaper.

 

Bijou, but very cool

Ice Cubes is the ever-so-cool name of a new service to take small, standardised experimental modules to the ISS and back again, at low cost. By small, I mean small: a 10cm cube. But that's a useful volume to do some interesting science, isn’t it?

Space is rapidly becoming a new frontier for private enterprise, and the enterprising people behind this idea have realised that a one-stop shop is an attractive proposition for many institutions without a great deal of experience in this arena. They say they will assist with experiment design, and handle everything from delivery to in-orbit operation. All for one low, low price.

It's an intriguing idea, and certainly got my imagination running for things I can squeeze into a volume about the same as the sticky note dispenser on my desk. Most of them so far have actually involved sticky notes, but I'm sure we can come up with something better.

If the 10cm cube is insufficient, the modular nature of the hardware means that several cube units can be combined in a variety of form factors. And no, there isn’t a way to join enough together to smuggle yourself on board. When I enquired about this, they asked me to go away.

The first Ice Cubes are scheduled for lift-off early in 2018, so this looks like it's really going to happen.

And now for the sixty-four million dollar question: how much? My discreet enquiries to the Belgian headquarters of Ice Cubes revealed a starting price for a unit, with a mass of 1kg and four months of microgravity including getting an actual astronaut to push a button or two, of €50,000.

I reckon there might be room for negotiation. For primary and secondary education objectives, it comes down to €35,000. At this level, I reckon we could probably crowd-fund a cube for a school project. It would work out at a little over a quid per school.

Space is always at a premium? Maybe not so much as it used to be.