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…
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…
What about poop?
Recycling poop is only viable if people stop holding it for 3 days or more.
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.
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.
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.