business plans

--- In ssi_list@... "victoriatangoman"

> I think we lack people on the list who can speculate on research
> trends, so we have the blind leading the blind. I'm curious what
> industrial processes we can develop so that can use the extreme
cold
> of space to slow down chemical reactions. What can be learned and
> developed from that. We can do this on Earth but it's expensive.
To
> do it on an industrial scale will be horrendously expensive.

Speak of the devil.

Lab Research Yields the Biggest Chill
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/physics-03k.html

They were able to achieve this temperature on the surface of the
Earth. If some industrial process requires this temperature it could
be done on Earth but it'll be expensive to engineer to these extreme
environmental conditions. Orbital process could be considered but
considering the lack of supporting infrastructure I'm sure the
terrestrial alternative will be cheaper. And so on will go the
cycle. Ad infinitum. Each project faced with a huge burden will seek
a terrestrial alternative.

In 1995, at microkelvin tempertures, a group discovered Bose-
Einstein condensates and won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

What will Bose-Einstein Condensates be good for? Any guesses?

To get to the lower tempertures noted in the linked article, the
scientists used their ingenuity to create containerless containers.
Wouldn't it be so much better to channel that type of ingenuity to
processes to be researched in orbit, rather than trying to replicate
features inherent to space.

By using magnetic forces instead of containers, they've isolated
physical contamination, but introduced a potential source of
electromagnetic error. Zero-g, by providing containerless means to
study matter, can remove these possible sources of error. What is
that worth to science? Apparently not much, otherwise this type of
experiment would have been designed for sounding rocket or orbital
science launch programs.

They also relied on gravity in helping to confine the atoms. Would
anything have been different if gravity was absent from the
conditions associated with the experiment.

TangoMan