The idea of drinking water recycled from urine may rightfully make some squeamish — no matter how insistent experts are that it’s perfectly safe to consume.
But for astronauts preparing for lengthy trips to the lunar surface or even the far reaches of outer space, such an option could prove vital for ensuring that their basic needs are met without requiring resupply missions from the ground. That’s why NASA has eagerly announced that its engineers aboard the International Space Station have found a way to reclaim 98% of the initial water that crews take into space with them at the start of longer missions.
And a big part of that process? Yep….Pee recycling.
In a statement, Christopher Brown, who is part of the team at Johnson Space Center that manages the space station’s life support system, called the breakthrough “a very important step forward in the evolution of life-support systems.”
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How it works
Each crewmember aboard the International Space Station needs around a gallon of water each day for drinking, food preparation, and hygiene uses such as brushing teeth.
The space station houses an Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS,) which includes a water-recovery system to collect wastewater which is then sent to the water processor assembly to produce drinkable water.
A subsystem of that support system is the Urine Processor Assembly, which uses a process of vacuum distillation to recover — you guessed it — the astronauts’ urine. The distillation produces water and a urine brine that still contains reclaimable water.
To accomplish that feat, the reclaimable water is extracted through a process that partially involves evaporating the water from the brine by blowing warm, dry air over it. That process creates humid air, which — similar to the breath and sweat of the crew members — can be collected at the station’s water recovery system.
NASA recently began testing that new brine processor, finding that the technology helped achieve the team’s goal of 98% water recovery. Prior to the brine processor assembly, the team’s total water recovery was between 93-94%, said Jill Williamson, ECLSS water subsystems manager.
NASA: ‘The crew is not drinking urine’
If you think this means that NASA astronauts are essentially drinking their own urine, think again.
All the collected water is treated through a series of specialized filters and a catalytic reactor that breaks down any trace contaminants. Sensors check the water purity, and the system also adds iodine to acceptable water to prevent microbial growth before it’s stored for crew consumption.
The concept of recycled urine may sound unsavory, but engineers insist that the end result of the process is a product far superior than what most municipal water treatment plants can produce.
“The crew is not drinking urine; they are drinking water that has been reclaimed, filtered, and cleaned such that it is cleaner than what we drink here on Earth,” Williams said in a statement. “We have a lot of processes in place and a lot of ground testing to provide confidence that we are producing clean, potable water.”
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And going forward, the development bodes well for future space missions that may see crewed flights venture beyond low Earth orbit, potentially even to Mars.
“The inability of resupply during exploration means we need to be able to reclaim all the resources the crew needs on these missions,” Williams said in the statement. “The less water and oxygen we have to ship up, the more science that can be added to the launch vehicle. Reliable, robust regenerative systems mean the crew doesn’t have to worry about it and can focus on the true intent of their mission.”
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @EricLagatta.