The ISS uses filtration, distillation and catalytic reactors to purify wastewater into safe drinking water for astronauts.
Space is the massive, ever-expanding realm beyond Earth’s atmosphere, spanning more than 93 billion light-years in the observable universe. But for all we know, it could only be a fraction of what truly exists.
What’s certain, though, is that it has its own set of rules. A near-perfect vacuum, space contains virtually no air. And as a result, there is no atmospheric pressure, which means that without a medium like air or molecules to carry vibrations, sound cannot travel. Time itself also behaves differently and passes slightly faster in space than on our planet’s surface ? Let’s find out. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station can’t simply pour water into a cup.
Instead, the conventional method includes drinking from sealed,This is why, to tackle the issue, Nasa astronaut Donald “Don” Roy Pettit, invented the Capillary Cup in 2008. Inspired by how liquids behave in aThe prototype evolved into a second version designed by Mark Weislogel, PhD, a mechanical engineering expert, and his team at Portland State University.
Created from 3D-printed food-grade plastic and flight-tested by NASA, the cup is the first patented product invented in orbit.to deliver a more Earth-like drinking experience and directs the water to the rim, where it can be sipped. An added bonus is that the cup is spill-free. Pettit explained that without gravity, tilting a cup doesn’t make the coffee flow; it just stays level and spills out once the edge reaches it.
“As the cup tilts, the edge of the mug reaches the edge of the coffee and liquid simply pours out,” he said inis challenging. In the absence of gravity, bodily fluids move upward, and reduce astronauts’ sense of thirst. This is why they constantly need to keep track of their intake. To avoid dehydration, they aim to drink around a gallon of water every day.
During spacewalks, they sip through a nozzle from a pouch in their helmets. But where exactly does this constant supply of water come from, considering it costs, which can recover and purify up to 93 percent of wastewater onboard. This includes urine, sweat, breath vapor, and even air humidity. The process consists of several stages.
It starts by capturing moisture from breath and sweat using onboard condensation systems. Urine is processed in a Vacuum Distillation Assembly, where it is heated under low pressure. The vapor is condensed into clean water. can recover only 75 percent of the water from urine.
And since the remaining liquid, called brine, still contains a decent amount of water, NASA built aThe liquid is then pushed through multiple filtration beds that remove the remaining organic and inorganic impurities. It is finally disinfected with iodine or silver ions. Once purified, it is stored in specially designed collapsible pouches. , spacecraft will need to recycle nearly all of their water.
Even though the BPA has reached a recovery rate considered sufficient to support such expeditions, more work is needed to make it compact for deep-space travel. But efficiency alone isn’t enough; the recycling systems built for space missions must also be lighter and less energy-intensive. The Environmental Control and Life Support System on the ISS requires 9.6 kilowatts of power. This accounts for up to 12 percent of the ISS’s total power consumption.
A large share is used for urine processing and oxygen generation. Still, the ISS receives water throughThese deliver over 100 gallons of extra pure water per mission. In turn, future spacecraft heading to Mars will not have the luxury of frequent resupplies.
, scientists are also exploring new ways to recycle water, such as using algae, solar-powered purification, and even considering extracting water fromApart from space missions, advances in water recovery systems could help tackle Earth’s growing water crisis, especially as aroundJill Williamson, aerospace engineer at NASA and water subsystems manager at ECLSS, stated that the processing is fundamentally similar to some“They are drinking water that has been reclaimed, filtered, and cleaned such that it is cleaner than what we drink here on Earth,” she concluded. The ISS recycles about 1,585 gallons of water each year.
It also keeps around 528 gallons in reserve for emergencies. Its water recycling system shows strong promise, alongside other technologies (including devices that According to UN estimates, more than five billion people, or roughly two-thirds of the global population, are expected to face at least one month of water shortages annually by 2050. Based in Skopje, North Macedonia. Her work has appeared in Daily Mail, Mirror, Daily Star, Yahoo, NationalWorld, Newsweek, Press Gazette and others.
She covers stories on batteries, wind energy, sustainable shipping and new discoveries. When she's not chasing the next big science story, she's traveling, exploring new cultures, or enjoying good food with even better wine. Space
Distillation Drinking Water Filtration Technology ISS Water Recycling NASA Physics Space Sustainability Zero Gravity
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