Given that the ISS will eventually come to the end of its mission (currently extended to 2020 (source)), would it be possible to re-purpose it for non-human space flight?
To clarify: does the equipment in orbit already provide enough utility to conduct useful science missions that would justify the operational costs and the costs of retrofitting the station?
It seems to me that risk and cost would be greatly reduced without a human crew, and we would be remiss to let all of that infrastructure de-orbit. But I don't know what kind off science experiments could be performed on the station remotely and if the benefits outweigh the costs.