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To get right to it, we'll be talking about recycling urine into drinking water aboard the international space station.
It's a step NASA intends to take in the coming months.
New hardware, NASA's water recovery system, is being readied for launching to the orbital outpost aboard the shuttle Endeavour in November.
The bulky equipment, along with a new toilet, are a vital part of plans to increase the number of astronauts living and working aboard the station from three to six people next May. With a larger crew, the station should be able to host more science experiments.
``I don't think we will go to six people, unelss the water recovery system is up and working,'' said Mike Fincke, the NASA astronaut who takes command of the station for six months in October.
magnus,fincke.jpg
NASA
Astronauts Sandra Magnus and Mike Fincke train for space station mission
The larger numbers of astronauts with all the food, water, clothing and other supplies they need will be showing up not long before NASA's scheduled retirement of the space shuttle in 2010. The shuttle is the primary means of delivering water and other cargo to the station.
The water is used for drinking. But water is also broken down with solar power into its two chemical elements, oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen is mixed into the air aboard the station for the astronauts to breathe. The hydrogen is disposed of through a vent to the outside of the station.
Fincke's crew will spend much of their mission installing and testing the new equipment to make sure it can purify water in space as well as it does during Earth testing. The recycling should reduce the water requirement on the station by about 1,800 gallons annually.
Much of the responsibility for initial operations will fall to NASA astronaut Sandy Magnus, who will accompany the new Water Recovery System and toilet to the station aboard Endeavour and watch over the initial operations for about three months.
``We're anxious to get it up and running as soon as possible,'' said Magnus.
When Endeavour returns to Earth before Thanksgiving, the shuttle will be carrying test samples of the first water produced from urine processed through the filters of the new recovery system.
While those samples will be examined closely in a NASA lab, the recovery system will be tested aboard the station for at least 90 days before astronauts are permitted to use it.
Magnus will be prepared for troubleshooting.
Although there's a ``yuck'' factor to the job, the veteran astronaut points out the success of the recyling effort is important to the future of NASA's plans for a lunar base as well as the space station.
``It's part of what we have to adapt to in our new lifestyle,'' she said. ``We must think this is water. It used to be urine. Just forget about that part. Water is really important. It's clear, and it will be fine.''
Considering that there is a finite amount of water on the earth, it's almost a sure thing that all water we drink has passed through the urinary or digestive tract of other creatures at some point in its existence. As long as the filtration system is good, the yuck factor should be minimal.
Yuck factor. You really don't want to think too hard about stuff like this.
Mother's milk is a specialized form of pus.
Battlefield sanitation of wounds can be accomplished by peeing on them.
Chemically pure water will literally eat away glass bottles.
To pick up on what Bowie just said, I read somewhere long ago that with every breath we take we have a better than even chance of breathing an exact same air molecule that was breathed by Christ.
Yuck factor. You really don't want to think too hard about stuff like this.
Mother's milk is a specialized form of pus.
Battlefield sanitation of wounds can be accomplished by peeing on them.
Chemically pure water will literally eat away glass bottles.
To pick up on what Bowie just said, I read somewhere long ago that with every breath we take we have a better than even chance of breathing an exact same air molecule that was breathed by Christ.
A specialized form of pus? Thanks a lot for that.
I think there is now a kind of filter, probably made from some kind of carbon nanofiber, that makes a decent water filter. A soldier could literally pee through it and drink it. I don't really know what the preferred water treatment is, though, though I saw an interesting article in Inc Magazine recently, about water treatment: "Blue is the New Green." It was focused more on city water, though. If I had more money, I might invest in that kind of tech.
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Hopefully, NASA won't send people into space with pee fetishes
