NASA Astronauts to Drink Own Urine
Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: nasa, astronauts, iss, endeavour
If the headline irked you a bit, you’re not alone. NASA this week released details about a new device that the space shuttle Endeavour will be delivering to the International Space Station today that will allow on board astronauts to effectively recycle their own urine for drinking.
NASA scientists say they plan to use the device to recycle urine into drinking water that’s even purer than the best bottled water you can find here on earth.
Using a complicated filtering process, the device will distill, filter, ionize and oxidize urine into drinkable water. According to NASA, the water will go through a multi-filtration system or MF:
The hygiene water MF train contains activated carbon, diatomaceous earth, strong base anion exchange resin, strong acid cation exchange resin, and MCV Resin®. MCV Resin® is an iodinated polymer used to to provide contact kill of microorganisms and to release elemental iodine as a disinfectant.
NASA scientist Bob Bagdigian, who lead the development for the device said that the water coming out of the device is refreshing and tastes great. "[The filtered water] is just as refreshing as any other kind of water. I’ve got some in my fridge. It tastes fine to me," Bagdigian said. Whether the water he has in his fridge was from his own urine or that of others is unknown.
"Some people may think it’s downright disgusting, but if it’s done correctly, you process water that’s purer than what you drink here on Earth," remarked astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper. Stefanyshyn-Piper and other astronauts will be delivering the device to the ISS today.
The water-transforming device had been in development for years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but is a breakthrough for long-term orbiting astronauts. According to NASA, water is extremely precious, especially when you’re sitting in an enclosed honk of metal for months at a time.
Aboard the Russian MIR space station, water reclamation was done using a completely different process, retrieving and processing drinkable water from humidity and condensation. Re-delivery of drinkable water from earth is also a process that’s used — the procedure for this though, is highly costly.
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Just an insert - "is" is incorrect in this sentence, as MIR no longer exists.
i'm never ever a grammar nazi as i don't really care, but this is a big flaw
'enclosed honk of mettle for months at a time."
either mettle is a word that i don't know of (which could highly be the case) or...i'm pretty sure you're trying to say metal? lol that is all.
Mettle is a word, however it is usually used to describe ones character, not to build space stations.
Chances are that purified urine is cleaner than your tap water.
Chances are that purified urine is cleaner than your tap water.
Much cleaner actually.
hey, I'm qualified to be an astronaut !
wait, THEIR OWN urine...
oh, nevermind
You call this news? People have been drinking their own urine for quite some time...researchers do it in the arctic because it uses too much energy to melt ice, and because dropping your drawers outdoors would mean your dong freezes. Astronauts ALWAYS recycled their water. This isn't news! They aren't "just now drinking their urine." They're getting a new system that does it better is all. Please STOP SENSATIONALIZING THINGS AND JUST GIVE US ACTUAL TECH BRIEFS!!!!
Mettle is a word, however it is usually used to describe ones character, not to build space stations.
LOL. Mettle is a verb. When you "mettle" in someone else's business you're putting your nose where it does not belong. If you're going to correct someone, at least know wth you're talking about.
he wasnt doing the correcting he was trying to give a instance to the guy who was doing the correcting in how the word would be used assuming thats how it would be used.
But really, how much mettle is in a honk?
lol everyone drinks their own urine. they are called water treatment plants. it happens in just about every city.
LOL. Mettle is a verb. When you "mettle" in someone else's business you're putting your nose where it does not belong. If you're going to correct someone, at least know wth you're talking about.
Good job making an ass of yourself. B-Unit is right: mettle is a word and it is a noun describing what a person is made of, usually meaning courageous. The word you're thinking of, however, is "meddle" and that is a verb with the meaning you described.
As for the article, would it really benefit astronauts that much to be able to recycle their own urine? Instead of spending "hundreds of millions of dollars" trying to convert urine back to water, wouldn't it just have been cheaper to send up bottled water? I'm not well-educated on space travel so any insight would be appreciated.
Sigh, this is why I never listen to the news.
Good job making an ass of yourself. B-Unit is right: mettle is a word and it is a noun describing what a person is made of, usually meaning courageous. The word you're thinking of, however, is "meddle" and that is a verb with the meaning you described.As for the article, would it really benefit astronauts that much to be able to recycle their own urine? Instead of spending "hundreds of millions of dollars" trying to convert urine back to water, wouldn't it just have been cheaper to send up bottled water? I'm not well-educated on space travel so any insight would be appreciated.
Ahh, maybe you're "write" on the meddle stuff. Oh well, not a real common word and, as always, I posted at like 5am. As for the sending up bottled water, no. It costs QUITE a lot to send up weight aboard the space shuttle. I'm too lazy to look up the cost per lb. but you can google it. It's ridiculous.
This is nothing new.
This is nothing new.
That's what I said.
That's what I said.
Yeah but he didnt XD
Old.
what if I have the CLAP (gonareaha) and piss in there. Can I give someone else the CLAP? nobody thought of THAT?! did they