[Cincinatus' Wife]

Or this:

[bonesmccoy]

Jim Oberg's column on MSNBC is fascinating.

He points out the solar panels on the orbital module.

He makes a good point.

Usually the Russian orbital modules do not have solar panels.

The existance of the solar panels suggests that the orbital module is meant to stay in LEO for a longer period of autonomous activity.

It suggests that it can be outfitted with systems that consume minimal amounts of energy, but could use being man tended.

Materials science comes to mind.

Also, recon.