How do you celebrate the installation of a wastewater recycling system? How about a bag of recycled urine water? Gulp! Astronauts aboard the International Space Station drank their own urine, officially testing the facility’s Urine Processing Assembly. We wonder if they are allowed to mix in some powdered TANG with their urine.
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NASA’s Urine Recycling Efforts
NASA has been working on a urine recycling system for years. The system is a vital part of NASA’s plan to put astronaut outposts on the moon and Mars. The water recycler will also help budget-strapped space mission budgets by reducing the amount of water shipped into space by Russian resupply ships.
While demonstrating the new system for the press, U.S. astronaut Michael Barratt joked “We have these highly attractive labels on our water bags that essentially say ‘brought to you by ECLSS,’ and ‘drink when real water is over 200 miles away.'”
How Does The NASA Urine Recycler Work?
So how does this new $250 million dollar wastewater recycling system work? The system takes the crew’s urine from the toilets and pumps it into a big tank where the water is boiled and water vapor collected. Yum. Maybe Foursquare will make an Outer Space Urine Tasting badge.
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Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.
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