Would Columbus have reached the New World if his ships
could not carry enough water for their crews? Would Lewis and
Clark have made it to the Pacific if they had no fresh water
along the way?
The answer is probably no, because water is just as precious
to explorers as it is to everyone on Earth. Water is one of
the most crucial provisions astronauts need to live and work
in space, whether orbiting Earth, working at a lunar base or
traveling to Mars. That’s why NASA is following several
different but complementary avenues at four agency centers to
develop dependable ways of recycling water.
“Developing innovative life support technologies will reduce
risks associated with human space exploration,” said Eugene
Trinh, director of the Human System Research and Technology
Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington. “We are working to
improve technology used onboard the International Space
Station (ISS) and have several research projects under way
for future missions to the moon and Mars.”
ISS crewmembers must save as much water as possible. Each is
allocated about two liters daily. They stretch the ration by
collecting, cleaning and reusing wastewater, condensate in
the air and urine. A new technology to improve recycling on
the ISS is being developed by engineers at Hamilton
Sundstrand Space Systems International, Inc., Windsor Locks,
Conn., and researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
(MSFC), Huntsville, Ala. The Water Processor Assembly (WPA)
will be the first major hardware delivery of the Regenerative
Environmental Control Life Support System. The WPA and the
Urine Processor Assembly make up the Water Recovery System
(WRS), which feeds the Oxygen Generation System. These
combined systems will support up to a seven-member crew.
“The Water Processing Assembly can daily produce 35 gallons
of potable recycled water,” said Bob Bagdigian, MSFC
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System
Project Manager. After the new systems are installed, annual
delivered water to the ISS should decrease by approximately
15,960 pounds, about 1,600 gallons. The WPA is scheduled for
delivery in 2008.
Water purity is also important. Chemical and microbial
contaminants make it unappetizing or unhealthy, and it can
clog complicated fluid systems. The Aerobic Rotational
Membrane System (ARMS) research project at NASA’s Kennedy
Space Center (KSC), Fla., may help. “We’re trying to move
toward a biological treatment method using bacteria to help
cleanse the water,” said Tony Rector, Dynamac Corporation
bioprocess engineer at KSC. The KSC prototype shop fabricated
a model of the system. It is being tested inside KSC’s Space
Life Sciences Laboratory, and Rector and colleagues designed
it.
At NASA’s Ames Research Center (ARC), Moffett Field, Calif.,
a water recycler enabling reuse for three years without
resupply is being developed on a timeline to fit into
exploration plans, according to ARC scientist Michael Flynn.
A preliminary engineering development unit can hourly recycle
13.2 pounds, about one gallon, of waste into drinkable water.
“If we were going to Mars tomorrow, this is the water
treatment system astronauts might well use,” Flynn said. He
is developing it in cooperation with Water Reuse Technology,
Inc., Garden Valley, Calif. “This unit can enable a six-
person crew to shower, wash clothes and dishes, drink water
and flush toilets over three years without resupply,” Flynn
said.
Engineers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, are
developing technology to help astronauts live in space. They
are studying biological water processors to minimize their
size in space habitats. JSC microbiologist Leticia Vega
describes her work as making biological water processors
modular, so they can be easily removed and cleaned.
Researchers are also identifying soaps that rapidly degrade
at high concentrations. Cleansers, like shampoo and soap,
affect the size of systems, because of the time it takes for
them to break down. Researchers are studying ways of
optimizing size of ion exchange beds used for the final
purification of water.
Water recycling technologies developed by NASA will undergo
combined water recovery systems testing at JSC to meet
exploration timelines. Many of these recycling technologies
may have Earth-based uses. NASA is working with the
Expeditionary Unit Water Purification Program of the U.S.
Office of Naval Research and Bureau of Reclamation to explore
ways to use recycling in remote locations.
For information
about the Environmental Control and Life Support System,
visit:
http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/background/facts/eclss.pdf
For ARMS images, visit:
http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/index.cfm
Water recycler images:
http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/releases/2004/vpcar/vpcar.html
JSC water recovery systems:
