Astronauts use recycled urine

Astronauts on the ISS international space station began to drink recycled water from urine and sweat from yesterday.

International space station.Photo: Reuters.

'It tastes great,' said astronaut Michael Barratt (USA), one of three people on the ISS station. The system to recycle urine into clean water is essential for the exploration of Mars and the moon. It also helps the US Space Agency (NASA) save a lot of money because they don't have to bring water to the international space station by spacecraft or missiles. It also allows 6 astronauts to join the ISS station (currently only 3).

Space shuttle Endeavor brought the above recycling system to the ISS station last November, but the astronauts could not use it right away because the device had a problem. In addition, the clean water samples that the system creates must be brought to earth for quality inspection. The problem was fixed on May 18, and the water test results were announced yesterday.

So when NASA announced that astronauts could drink recycled water, they were excited. Three people on the international space station raised glasses to congratulate NASA engineers. 'I used to think that this could only happen in science fiction , ' said astronaut Barratt. NASA scientists call the urine recycling system a 'big step in the history of conquering the universe'.

Marybeth Edeen, director of the recycling system project, revealed its working principle. From the toilet, the astronauts' urine was taken to a large container. Here 'ingredients' are boiled. Steam is collected and put into a separate container. The rest is removed. The rising steam is mixed with condensed steam in the air and then passed through the filtration device.

When 6 astronauts work on the ISS, the system can make about 22 liters of clean water within 6 hours. 'Many people believe that drinking recycled urine is a terrible thing, but in fact, such water is used on the earth. During the tsunami in Asia in 2006, disaster-prone areas lacked clean water. People have used our wastewater recycling technique to create clean water in a short time , 'Edeen said.