Water is heavy and hard to transport into orbit, which is why the International Space Station is a champion when it comes to recycling. Even astronaut urine is captured and processed to make it drinkable. The system that does this work is about to get an important upgrade.
The ISS water recovery system is tasked with turning wastewater into potable water. The urine-processing part of the system has been an ongoing concern. Astronauts will be installing a redesigned urine distillation assembly. This piece handles the crucial step of boiling urine to kick off the purification process.
"One of the most important things we've learned in the last 12 years of the hardware's orbital operation is that the hardware is vulnerable in its steam environment," said NASA's Jennifer Pruitt in a statement on Monday.
NASA said the upgrades are focused on internal redesigns, "including a new toothed belt drive system, bearing seals, Teflon spacer and liquid level sensor." If you want to dive into the details (including the technical glitches the system has encountered), then check out this NASA paper on the upgrades (PDF link).
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday March 13 2020, @03:09AM
Only some people have the gene to detect that. None of the current crew have it; Yuri tested them but I won't give away how.
Washington DC delenda est.