In the upcoming years, space travel is expected to become more frequent, and spacewalks could potentially last longer than just a few hours. To address this, American scientists are working on developing a filtration device that can be integrated into space suits, allowing astronauts to turn their urine into drinking water for consumption while on spacewalks.
According to a report by “New Scientist” on July 12th, although the International Space Station has systems in place to recycle astronauts’ urine and sweat, the bulky equipment required cannot be integrated into space suits.
Currently, NASA’s solution for managing astronauts’ waste during spacewalks involves the use of the “Maximum Absorbency Garment,” essentially an adult diaper designed to collect urine and feces.
At the conclusion of a spacewalk, the used diaper is disposed of in the waste system of the International Space Station, eventually incinerated upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. This process leads to significant resource wastage and is not an optimal solution.
Professor Christopher Mason from Cornell University shared that while existing space suits are adequate for short-duration spacewalks lasting only a few hours, the increasing frequency of space activities necessitates better solutions.
Mason and his team are working on a compact device weighing 8 kilograms, about the size of a shoebox, capable of recycling urine collected through unisex external catheters. The device utilizes dual-stage filtration to purify the urine, achieving an efficiency of 87%. The remaining 13% of water that cannot be extracted will be retained within the filter.
The purified water can be consumed and pumped into a pouch within the space suit through a tubing system. This approach also ensures a steady supply of drinking water. Currently, NASA’s space suits provide less than 1 liter of drinking water, which is often insufficient for extended spacewalks.
While the filtration technology mirrors that of existing systems on the International Space Station, the research team noted that waste water on the station contains soap and chemicals, absent from astronauts’ urine, making water extraction a relatively simpler process.
Mason mentioned that the technology for extracting water from feces is not yet “fully resolved,” but this does not impede research progress as astronauts commonly restrain from defecating during spacewalks.
Currently, the device is only in prototype testing in a laboratory setting, with human trials scheduled to commence in November, including urine collection, recycling, and consumption of purified water.
Researchers mentioned that the device can be integrated into new versions of space suits. NASA has entered a contract with the private company Axiom Space to manufacture updated space suits for astronauts’ use in the upcoming Artemis III manned lunar mission.