The Triangulum Galaxy is the third largest in our local group, right behind the Milky Way and Andromeda
space1 month ago
Water is a very precious resource in space and UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi has tweeted a fresh photo of himself on Friday showing how they recycle water to ensure there is a continuous supply of potable water aboard the orbiting International Space Station (ISS).
Wearing a PPE (personal protective equipment) to prevent contamination, AlNeyadi is seen working on the tank that recycles water. “Ensuring a well-maintained life support system is a key task for astronauts, particularly during long-duration missions,” he noted.
Aside from drinking, water is also used to create clean air by separating oxygen from hydrogen.
It may sound gross but astronauts do collect water from their urine. There is an entire closed-loop system onboard the ISS dedicated to water.
According to Nasa, astronauts capture wastewater such as urine, sweat, or even moisture from their breath. Then impurities and contaminants are filtered out of the water. The final product is potable water that can be used to rehydrate food, bathe, or drink.
“The Urine Processor Assembly, part of the Water Recovery System, was designed for 85 per cent water recovery from crew urine and has been improved over the last year to now recover 87 per cent because of analysis that showed there was still a margin against calcium sulfate precipitation. That distillate is combined with the condensate and processed through the Water Processing Assembly (WPA), which recovers 100 per cent of the water it processes. As a result, our overall water recovery is about 93.5 per cent,” Layne Carter, ISS Water Subsystem Manager at Marshall, explained back in 2021.
The water recycling is part of the ISS’s regenerative life support hardware called Environmental Control and Life Support System which provides clean air and water for the crew.
Although the ISS recycles much of its water, there are shipments of water during mission resupply from Earth to give astronauts access to clean water.
ALSO READ:
The Triangulum Galaxy is the third largest in our local group, right behind the Milky Way and Andromeda
space1 month ago
Time will tell, but it could be the 'brightest of the century', according to a Dubai-based expert
space1 month ago
The space rock is about the size of a bus and will orbit 4.5 million km away from Earth, unlike the Moon, which is 396,000 km away
space1 month ago
The nebula is called so because its shape resembles the helmet worn by the character 'Thor' in movies and novels
space1 month ago
Boeing's first astronaut mission ended earlier this month with its Starliner capsule returning to Earth while test pilots remained in space
space1 month ago
The spacewalk follows a daring first phase of the mission, during which the Dragon spacecraft reached a peak altitude of 1,400 kilometres
space1 month ago
On the mission's first day, they will soar to a peak altitude of 1,400 kilometres, before returning into a lower orbit
space1 month ago
Following this discovery, an initial certificate was issued to Mohammad Shawkat Odeh
space2 months ago