NASA to test pee-recycling bags for outer space

One hears rare about people drinking their own urine and one cannot help but feel completely revolted – “what could these people be thinking?" when there is fresh water easily available. Of course, water pollution being a major problem, we humans need to learn not to waste so much. But seriously, drinking your own urine is usually saved for a desperate situation. Not anymore!

Pee-recycling bag

While still in the initial stages, there is hope in some, that this water recycling apparatus will have household applications. The technology has always been available to NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station. They have been using a pee-recycling machine to supply their clean drinking water in outer space for a long time. However, the issue with the apparatus was that it drained power from the orbital laboratory's limited energy. To rectify the problem, its successor will not require an external power source as it functions on forward osmosis, which is a property of fluids used commonly in desalination. With osmosis at its core, the textbook-sized kit is capable of converting urine into drinkable water. Similar technology is being used by soldiers in dry terrains to filter out contaminants such as viruses, dirt from unclean fluids.

Pee-recycling bag

While NASA's recycler system has been successful in the lab, scientists are interested to find out how it will do in outer space. Its first test run is today, 8 July on NASA's last space shuttle - Atlantis. Howard Levine, who is the NASA project scientist and experiment leader, is very excited about the latest improvements on existing technology. He likens the pee-recycling apparatus to the water-recycling "stillsuits" from the science fiction series Dune.

Levine is optimistic that these developments are the first step to revolutionizing the process of recycling people's liquid body waste. According to him, soon it will be possible to recapture the moisture from sweat, breath and urine for recycling into drinkable water. NASA's new recycler is made of a semi-permeable inner bag, filled with a sugary solution, fitted inside an outer bag. Dirty fluid is pumped into the outer bag to filter into the inner bag and potassium rich fluid solution, leaving behind all its contaminants. The double-sack system has been proven to fill about a liter of fluid in four to six hours.

Pee-recycling bag

Scientists trust the apparatus but for prudence sake, the four astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis will test the recycler with an experimental fluid and not their own urine towards the closure of their 12-day mission. Hopefully one day, the recycler will be a saving grace for many drought-stricken countries instead of solely useful for outer space.

Via: Wired