Page 31 - International Space Station Benefits for Humanity, 3rd edition.

is allocated 50% of NASA’s ISS resources with the
goal of maximizing commercial and private research
conducted on the space station. Between 2012 and ...commercial companies are
2017, they selected 190 investigations to be carried developing, operating and
out on the ISS; of these, 56% were commercially
sponsored, 42% were academic/nonprofit sponsored, maintaining their own commercial
and only 2% were government sponsored. payload facilities, both internally
The results of the efforts of all partners toward and externally on the ISS.
commercial research and partnership can be seen
in the findings documented in the table below. Many
of the most mature benefits listed were derived from
early collaborative public-private partnerships including
Aquaporin water purification technology, Aerocide factor of three. The combination of increased capacity
air-scrubbing technology and Aerocrine’s exhaled nitric and decreased cost has improved accessibility of space
oxide monitors. In addition, commercial research from station research to new user groups such as academic
pharmaceutical companies have led to the osteoporosis institutions and educational non-profits, thereby
drug Denosumab (Prolia). As discussed in the Japanese allowing graduate and undergraduate students to
partner perspective, pharmaceutical companies’ participate in space-based research, as well as to
interest in ISS research continues to grow. Ongoing secondary and primary school students to experience
and planned testing has the potential to impact a space-based research.
wide range of treatments and even demonstrate In less than a decade after assembly completion,
the effectiveness of new drug delivery systems.
the ISS has become a fully functioning laboratory
As the demand for space research and development where commercial entities routinely carry out research
projects increases, numerous commercial companies and technology development (R&D) in fields important
are developing, operating and maintaining their own to their competitive differentiation. Another area in
commercial payload facilities, both internally and which the ISS is contributing to the development of the
externally on the ISS. To date, 15 commercial research space economy is payload integration. The Research,
facilities and instruments have greatly increased the Engineering, Mission and Integration Services (REMIS)
breadth of research supported by the ISS, with the contract is another example of the transition in ISS
majority becoming available since 2014. Currently procurement philosophy to emphasize public-
AlphaSpace, BioServe, Made In Space, NanoRacks, private partnerships. This contract was awarded to
Space Tango, StaARS, TechShot, and Teledyne Brown 16 contractors in September 2017. This move signals
Engineering are providing ISS research facilities. a transition from a model where NASA provides its
As mentioned in their partner perspective below, own payload integration, engineering development
the first European Space Agency (ESA)-sponsored and sustaining services to one where those services
commercial facility, ICECUBES, began operations in can be purchased from one of many commercial
2018. A listing of all commercial facilities available providers through a competitive process. The REMIS
as of June 2018, and a brief description of their contract was developed to allow companies to slowly
capabilities, can be found in ISS Commercial take over historically governmental functions in a step-
Research Providers table at the end of this section. wise manner using their commercial approaches to
These commercial organizations operate their facilities doing business.
and provide users with more choices to address unique The ISS is not a traditional asset where concepts such
research needs than were previously available. as return on investment (ROI), payback period or risk-
Many of these companies have used their own adjusted return are easily applied. By allowing industry
resources to invest in on-orbit facilities, thereby to take over payload integration functions as well as
reducing the risk to the ISS research partner agencies own and manage research facilities, the ISS serves
to develop these facilities and services themselves. as a technology-transfer conduit for the “how-to”
These companies find customers through the ISS experience companies will need to expand their
partners, the ISS National Laboratory and their own activities in space. At the same time, competition
business development efforts. As commercial facilities between companies often generates more efficient
hosting ISS research have proliferated, the cost of approaches leading to price reductions, further
conducting that research in orbit has dropped by a reducing the costs of doing business in space.

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