This week, NASA revealed that the International Space Station’s Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) is recycling 98 percent of all water astronauts bring aboard the station…

  • GustavoM@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Imagine you are chilling on the sofa watching netflix with your girl and some random girl knocks at your door and shouts: “WOW! Your filtered piss tastes so GREAT!”

    Thats an odd way to give someone a blowjob.

    • mesamune@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Most cities recycle water too. Maybe not 98 percent but a large percentage of water.

  • MoltenBoron@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Collecting sweat? I’m imagining astronauts up there wringing out wash cloths. “Sniff. Sniff. Dammit, Buzz would you stop mopping up your crack. We all don’t wanna be drinking Eau de Taint with dinner later.” Oh, they use a dehumidifier, yah that makes more sense.

  • kitonthenet@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Nice that’s a huge milestone, that way you don’t have to lug thousands of kilos of water to mars bc you waste it all, you can just keep reusing the same amount over and over

  • scarabic@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It doesn’t say how the 2% loss occurs. I’m curious how water actually leaves the system since the ISS is obviously airtight.

  • Overzeetop@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Here on earth we recycle even more of it. I just had a wonderful lunch with some sparkling recycled dinosaur piss water.

  • SSTF@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    They could probably make a tidy profit selling it to internet weirdos instead.

  • gendulf@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’ve always wondered how long a tank of water of some size would last. Everyone always handwaved away all the details of energy, food, water, etc in sci fi shows, but I’ve always been interested in those aspects.

    The Martian was satisfying for this reason, but I want MORE.

    • MxM111@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Here’s a general idea of what happens with feces on the ISS:

      Waste Collection: The toilet on the ISS uses airflow to direct waste into the right place, given that there’s no gravity to help. When astronauts need to poop, they use a specially designed toilet with straps to hold them in place. The toilet includes a smaller hole and fan system that uses suction to pull the waste away from the body.

      Waste Storage: Once the waste is collected, it’s stored in a separate sealed container. The toilet system compacts and stores solid waste. This waste is exposed to vacuum to kill bacteria and reduce odor.

      Disposal: When the container is full, it is removed and stored in a special section of a cargo ship, like a SpaceX Dragon or a Northrop Grumman Cygnus, that is set to leave the ISS and reenter Earth’s atmosphere. Upon reentry, the ship and its contents (including the waste) burn up, essentially incinerating the waste.

      This answer was given by ChatGPT. I do not know how true it is, but it clearly sounds like it. I hear about freeze-dry process before.

      • Event_Horizon5@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        This is accurate except that the Dragon and Cygnus spacecraft do not burn up in the atmosphere. Waste is usually loaded a disposable spacecraft like the Progress which does burn up on reentry. Some is returned to earth occasionally for testing via the Dragon or Cygnus.

        • rekliner@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, it would big news if a Dragon burned up.

          I assumed they meant it was ejected during reentry but on reflection that would not be worth the risk…though I do like the idea of flaming dragon poop streaming across the sky.

  • FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    So, what are they doing with the other 2%? Using it for propulsion?

    Is it something weird? It’s something weird, isn’t it?