Hello Mark,

You must remember that Antartica is here on Earth, has valuable natural resources, and that several nations nearly claim to blows over those resources. The Antartic Treaty may have prevented that war, but my guess is that ultimately the solution for the management of Antartica's resources is going to be to turn them over to the UN for its funding -
of course, this has been blocked for some time, as one thing the neo-conservatives in the US do not want is an independent financially well off UN -

ESA has a limited goal, adopted in the main to give scientific "cover" for the Antartic Treaty:

"One particular cause for concern is the potential for physiological and psychological problems that could arise from the conditions of weightlessness, isolation and confinement experienced..."

Now if one could only ensure that Cowing stayed in the Mars Nuts' play station for 3 years, and made sure that all his communications underwent a 40 minute time lag, and that he had no female company, and that he had to put on a suit weighing say 150 pounds or so before he went outside, why then I'd be quite happy with the "experiment" and would stop calling it a Cargo Cult, which is exactly what it is...

Where are the polar bears when you really need them?

ep