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from the really-takes-the-piss?-or-a-load-of-crap? dept.
NASA wants you to design a space toilet for missions to the moon:
NASA issued a call on Thursday asking for ideas for the ultimate space toilet with its Lunar Loo Challenge. The winner of the space toilet challenge could win $35,000 (approximately £28,000, A$51,000) for the top concept.
Although space toilets are already in use (the International Space Station is scheduled to get an upgrade soon), they are designed for microgravity only. Microgravity is when there's weightlessness in space, and NASA's toilet tech has taken care of that problem already. But the new toilets need to be able to work in lunar gravity as well. Lunar gravity is approximately one-sixth of Earth's gravity, so our waste moves a little differently on the moon.
In addition to having the new toilet function in both microgravity and lunar gravity, it has to adhere to a set of strict specifications. It must have a mass of less than 15 kilograms in Earth's gravity, occupy a volume no greater than 0.12 meter cubed, consume less than 70 watts of power, operate with a noise level less than 60 decibels (no louder than an average bathroom fan) and accommodate both female and male users of different shapes and sizes.
[...] "We are looking forward to seeing what the crowdsourcing community can come up with that is out-of-the-box and bring different perspectives for what is needed for a toilet."
[...] "Think about the needs for the toilet and don't worry about it being for a spacecraft," Interbartolo added. "Break it down to the base functions needed in terms of handling male/female urine, fecal, menses, and how you could do it in a compact and low mass way for an easy-to-use system. These concepts are similar for campers, boats, remote and undeveloped locations."
This challenge has two categories: Technical and Junior. Submissions to both categories are due no later than 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT on Aug. 17.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday June 27 2020, @12:51PM
Some sort of hose with different funnels at the top replaced for various functions and genders and then some sort of suction device attached to it to literally suck the crap out of you followed by some kind of device to really compact the "product", also there should probably be some places to attach recycling devices for those things that need to have another go around the system so it doesn't all get launched into space.
Doesn't plumbing and sanitation experts usually frown upon the idea of menses products in the toilet, those things should go in the trash. Sending only men into space isn't an option I gather? It would be a simple solution and one less issue you have to solve, probably a lot less issues you have to resolve actually. Perhaps some sort of chemically induced menopause might be a solution?