Turning urine into drinking water

Using this….

Urine to water

…on the International Space Station.

Two hundred and fifty miles above the Earth puts you a long way from the nearest kitchen tap. And at $15,000 a pint, the cost of shipping fresh water aboard the space shuttle is, well, astronomical.

So astronauts on the International Space Station have to recapture every possible drop. That includes water evaporated from showers, shaving, tooth brushing and hand washing, plus perspiration and water vapor that collects within the astronauts’ space suits. They even transfer water from the fuel cells that provide electric power to the space shuttle.

Until now, however, NASA has not attempted to tap one major potential source of water: urine. That will soon change with the deployment of the new Water Recovery System. 

It was taken up on the last shuttle launch on November 14th.

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8 thoughts on “Turning urine into drinking water”

  1. Reminds me of “The Real Thing”, an art installation by Helmut Smits which turn Coca-Cola into clean drinking water.

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