With all this talk about the recent discovery of water on the Moon, and now Mars it seems a new age of space exploration is upon us. Could the International Space Station be the answer to the USA failed Constellation programme?
Sending a self-contained habitat to the distant shores of a new world, where sufficient water exists to replenish supplies, may be the quickest and most economical solution. Colonists from Earth would be able to escape conflict on our home world, where earlier periods of exploration and discovery have resulted in genocide and tragedy for ethnic people.
The ISS would make an ideal spaceship and sending an international team could prove to be the kind of gesture that creates peace and friendship amongst nations.
In fact the ISS, with a footprint close to a conventional nuclear powered submarine, is just the kind of size habitat needed for extended journies of human exploration to the outer planets. The ISS could even begin the slow journey to planets in the solar system, with a crew knowing full well, that return to earth was highly unlikely.