Ireland is a member of the European Space Agency, but it is not a participating country in the International Space Station programme. Owning a share of the hardware would have been tremendously expensive.
There are ways for Irish researchers to participate, however, and Ireland could consider linking up with teams that can make use of time and space on the ISS, according to Dr Brendan O'Donnell, manager of international programmes with Enterprise Ireland.
A number of researchers here are working in the microgravity area using ground-based experiments, he says. Enterprise Ireland is already studying the possibility of holding a forum for these scientists: "If the level of interest is sufficiently high and the resources are available, then Ireland might consider taking part." Initially this might involve third-level groups joining research teams that had booked time on the ISS or who had actually provided experiments.
There might be options for Irish industry to take part in the long term, he adds. Pharmaceutical firms, for example, might want a chance to synthesise new drug products under microgravity conditions.
The ISS will mainly be about science and research and, when fully assembled, will have six large-scale laboratories. Planners have divided research activity into six main areas: life sciences, earth sciences, space sciences, microgravity, engineering and space products.
The ISS will provide a permanent window on the world for the study of meteorology, geology and atmosphere. Nature's processes on land will be studied along with the long term long-term effects of space flight on the human body.