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Nov 25, 2008 12:35 PM | 5
After five days of ill-fated attempts, International Space Station (ISS) astronauts today ran two successful tests of equipment on board designed to turn urine, sweat and moisture from the air into drinking water, NASA.gov reports. NASA now must decide whether the contraption, deemed essential for hydration of future astronauts traveling farther out into space, should return with the space shuttle Edeavour on Sunday or remain on the ISS for further testing, according to the Associated Press.
After some tinkering (including installation of new support brackets to secure the system's centrifuge) by station commander Mike Fincke and shuttle mission specialist Don Pettit, the Urine Processor Assembly (part of the station's new Water Recovery System), successfully finished a full five-hour run, Space.com reported today. The astronauts successfully operated the system again three hours later after it cooled down. The $154 million water recycling system is part of a $250 million regenerative life support system designed to sustain larger space station crews with fewer supply drop-offs from visiting spacecraft, Space.com reports; the first six-person crew (currently there are only three astronauts on board at a time when there isn't a visiting spacecraft) is due to arrive at the orbiting lab next May.
The space agency even added a 16th day to the astronauts' mission in the hope they could get the urine processor flowing smoothly. Last week, the water-and-urine recycling system malfunctioned during four tests, including one in which the processor shut itself down after running for only two hours and another in which it triggered an alarm on the space station.
Crew members today are transferring materials set to return to Earth from the station to the Endeavour.
If all goes well, water made from recycled urine will be added to the menu during extended space missions, alongside astronaut cuisine cooked up by food scientists in the Space Food Systems Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, who have been trying to spice up space fare.
(Image courtesy of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)
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5 Comments
Add CommentWhat about us down here on earth that want to drink our pee! Must I have to become an astronaut to enjoy a little recycled bodily fluids?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHas anyone thought of making pee wine? Surely the distilation process would remove any harmful components? Which leads on to, who will be the first person to get drunk in space? "Houshton, 'hic!' we hajsh a problem..."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat is it about asparagus anyway???
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo each time a new pice of equipment is added to the space station, increasing the overall mass of our home in space, we would need to adjust the orbit. I don't hear much about that. Are there may difficulties making adjustments to the ISS when new loads are added?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI had an (american) roommate in college who had just come from some years in ashrams in india. The story was, he had trouble getting up in the mornings, and his guru or whatever he was had told him, "when you get up in the morning, drink a glass of your own urine. That'll wake you right up." And he did. Every morning. Though I always suspected he just liked the shock factor when company came over and asked about the apple juice left out on the bathroom counter. He did say it really wasn't as gross as you'd think, unless it's warm, in which case it sort of mentally connects, and gets a little weird.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe were taught in the service, that if you're stranded at sea, and going to die, you can repeatedly your urine two, three times tops, before it's too "acidic" (?) and you might rather die of dehydration rather than the poisoning that'd come from drinking it a fourth time.
That's all I know about drinking urine. Now have fun, kids! :)