Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have achieved a 98% water restoration rate, thanks to an advanced system that recycles their urine and sweat into drinkable water. The breakthrough was made using the Environment Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS), which recycles consumables such as food, air and water for further use in space. The ECLSS includes a water recovery system that collects wastewater and sends it to the water processor assembly, which produces drinkable water. One component uses advanced dehumidifiers to capture moisture released into the cabin air from crew breath and sweat, while the Urine Processor Assembly recovers water from urine using vacuum distillation. The Brine Processor Assembly, which extracts remaining wastewater, has helped the system achieve the 98% water recovery goal.
Each crew member aboard the ISS needs around a gallon of water each day for drinking, food preparation and hygiene usage. Therefore, life support systems need to recover close to 98% of the water that crew members bring along at the start of a long journey. The achievement is a significant milestone for future space missions that will see astronauts spend more time in space during long stays on the lunar surface and crewed missions to Mars.
The ECLSS is crucial for future space missions as resupplying during exploration is not possible. Therefore, the regenerative ECLSS systems become ever more important as astronauts go beyond low Earth orbit. The inability to resupply during exploration means that all the resources that the crew needs during these missions must be reclaimed.
Christopher Brown, who is part of the team at Johnson Space Center that manages life support systems on the ISS, said, “This is a very important step forward in the evolution of life support systems. Keeping that running is a pretty awesome achievement.” The 98% milestone achieved by the ECLSS is a significant development for future space missions, which will require astronauts to stay in space for extended periods.
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