NASA has reached a technological milestone that may one day be critical in missions to the Moon and beyond. The space agency disclosed this week (via Space.com) that the International Space Station’s Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) recycles 98 percent of all water astronauts bring onboard.
In terms of functionality, the device is identical to the Stillsuits described in Frank Herbert’s Dune. One section of the ECLSS employs “advanced dehumidifiers” to collect moisture that the station’s crew expel while they go about their everyday chores.
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Another subsystem, the delightfully called “Urine Processor Assembly,” uses vacuum distillation to recover what astronauts pee. According to NASA, the distillation process yields water and a urine brine with reclaimable H20.
The agency recently began testing a new device that can extract what water remains in the brine, and it’s thanks to that system that NASA observed a 98 percent water recovery rate on the ISS, where the station previously recycled about 93 to 94 percent of the water astronauts brought aboard.
“This is a very important step forward in the evolution of life support systems,” said NASA’s Christopher Brown, who is part of the team that manages the International Space Station’s life support systems.
“Let’s say you collect 100 pounds of water on the station. You lose two pounds of that and the other 98 percent just keeps going around and around. Keeping that running is a pretty awesome achievement.”
If the thought of someone else drinking their urine is causing you to gag, fret not. “The processing is fundamentally similar to some terrestrial water distribution systems, just done in microgravity,” said Jill Williamson, NASA’s ECLSS water subsystems manager.
“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.”
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Systems like the ECLSS, according to Williamson, will be crucial as NASA performs additional trips beyond Earth’s orbit.
“The less water and oxygen we have to ship up, the more science that can be added to the launch vehicle,” Williamson said. “Reliable, robust regenerative systems mean the crew doesn’t have to worry about it and can focus on the true intent of their mission.”
