NASA drops $19m on Russian toilets for American asstronauts

So apparently NASA has agreed to purchase toilet technology from the Russian company RSC Energia for the tidy sum of $19 million, to be delivered to the ISS in 2008 in preparation for a crew upsizing from three to six members. The previous system required that urine tanks be transfered to cargo ships and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere, but the new toilets operate like a waste treatment center on Earth, collecting and reconstituting urine as drinking water -- an unpleasant concept for a number of our readers, but a welcome relief for thirsty astronauts. The toilets are similar to normal models, though they employ leg restraints and thigh bars to hold the "user" in place, and high-powered fans to suck, um... waste into the commode. The system will be installed on the American side of the station, while the Russian-side will remain as is, resulting in extremely long lines to use the "good" bathroom.

[Austin @ Jul 6th 2007 10:08PM]

I love the headline "typo".

[humpty @ Jul 6th 2007 10:08PM]

Is that urine siphon washable.. or at least come with interchangeable heads? I dont want to use that after someone else has!

[Paul @ Jul 6th 2007 10:10PM]

I feel stupid that I missed it.

[Paul @ Jul 6th 2007 10:11PM]

Crap... sorry replied to the wrong person.... grrr

[Paul @ Jul 6th 2007 10:11PM]

Hmm... yet I see that my comment is oddly relevant.... yikes.

[Chuckles McGee @ Jul 6th 2007 10:12PM]

Don't be hating on NASA, those things are the shit.

[Christopher @ Jul 6th 2007 10:14PM]

19 large for a sucking toliet, eh nevermind

[Shermie @ Jul 7th 2007 9:56AM]

I wouldn't want Mr. Johnson to get sucked down that tube. Looks kinda powerfull. Bad enough it got stuck in the hot tub.

[Anthony @ Jul 6th 2007 10:17PM]

NASA says it's only $15 million. Once again, liberal media Engadget skew the facts to support their conservative, anti-space agenda.

[Icebox @ Jul 6th 2007 10:48PM]

Hey man... If you don't like Engadget, don't read it. It's That Simple. There's no need to make technology political. We are all here for the same reason.

[phooky @ Jul 6th 2007 11:44PM]

from the nasa site:


The basic contract includes $19 million to purchase a Russian-designed toilet system with a privacy enclosure and additional space station equipment

had you clicked the linked article you would have seen this.

fucking political idiots.

[Anthony @ Jul 7th 2007 1:01AM]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11793196

"Lots of news stories are saying 19 million but NASA is saying it's closer to 15 million..."

Currency exchange?

Either way: My "anti-space agenda" comment is a joke. I'm surprised so many readers would have trouble w/ that. It's called being facetious. You might have heard of it. No? Oh. Don't worry. Your imported ASIMO plush doll still loves you.

[Anthony @ Jul 7th 2007 1:07AM]

PS- This NPR story was right before Ryan Block was interviewed about the iPhone hacks already in play.

See, Ryan, I follow all your gadget media coverage. Can I have a free E Ink watch now?

[Zzephyr @ Jul 6th 2007 10:25PM]

I sense a malfunction after bean burrito night.

[Arun @ Jul 6th 2007 10:34PM]

They should probably collect the gas and use it to power the station.

[chainofcommand02 @ Jul 6th 2007 10:38PM]

That's not 15 mil for each toilet, right? It's the total sum for how many toilets?

[Dustin Frazier @ Jul 6th 2007 10:41PM]

How bad would it suck to float off the toilet seat.

[max @ Jul 6th 2007 10:41PM]

turn pee into water and semen into vanilla shakes(hey its kinda lonely up there and not alot of interaction.at least it has the vacuum feature to "releive" the astronauts).almost like jesus but not really.

[Constable Odo @ Jul 6th 2007 10:49PM]

You might say that's another $19 million down the toilet.

[kevin rummelhart @ Jul 6th 2007 10:50PM]

There is a similar model in a darker color installed at a culb off Folsom Street...

[Garf @ Jul 6th 2007 10:55PM]

If this is installed on the American-side, I bet someone will eventually yell over to the Rusian-side "Um...I'm out of toilet paper in here, can someone toss me a roll please?" In zero-G, toilet paper rolls would float nicely through the space station.

[Brian @ Jul 6th 2007 11:15PM]

So they couldn't just use duct tape to hold the "asstronauts" in place? I thought duct tape solved all problems. Well, I guess after the first visit to the station, 3M would have charged about that to use one roll of tape. But those steel bars and straps couldn't have cost too much, and they're going to be cold on the "ass."

[Eric @ Jul 6th 2007 11:18PM]

...and the obligatory...


In Soviet Russia, Space Toilet craps in you...

[uclatommy @ Jul 6th 2007 11:25PM]

You guys are funny.

[landus @ Jul 6th 2007 11:39PM]

I hope they don't reconstitute poo to use as a food there :)

[Eric @ Jul 7th 2007 11:19AM]

You mean like we do here on Earth?

[Seni @ Jul 6th 2007 11:39PM]

To those who think this is a waste of money...

$3,000 per glass is roughly the price of fresh water ferried up to the International Space Station, says Hazel Muir in "New Scientist."

Each astronaut uses about 4.4 liters a day for drinking, washing, etc., which costs around $11,000 per liter to ship up. So NASA is looking to trim this price in favor of a "vile cocktail" of recycled astronauts' urine, sweat, and even lab rats' liquid waste.

Storing fresh water takes up too much room, which makes recycling essential. A key part of the "water recovery" program is to recoup about 85% of the H2O in urine, leaving behind a "brine" that is then checked for other particles and compounds.

[Lita @ Jul 6th 2007 11:58PM]

You are awesome.

[iliarules @ Jul 7th 2007 12:08AM]

A vile cocktail, indeed.

[Eric @ Jul 7th 2007 11:21AM]

sign me up!

[agoodfella @ Jul 7th 2007 12:45AM]

what about the no. 2? can't they "collect and reconstitute" them into Snicker bars? i mean you are paying 19 million...

[max @ Jul 7th 2007 2:24AM]

absolutely not.u cant make snickers from poo..u can only make almond joy.also they can recycle rabbit poo and make hershey's kisses.sucks to be lactose intolerant in this super space station, that's for sure, cos i sure wouldn't wanna miss out on those.

[OddManOut @ Jul 7th 2007 1:23AM]

Jeez...that picture...

It looks like something you'd find at Larry Flint's place...

[Chris @ Jul 7th 2007 3:38AM]

I'd actually be lining up for the 'good' drinking water (aka, not reconstituted pee) and not the 'good' bathroom.

[Paris K @ Jul 7th 2007 5:54AM]

Are they also going to be reconstituting poo? Astronauts also get hungry not just thirsty.

[Branko Collin @ Jul 7th 2007 6:50AM]

Presumably the Russian side of the ISS is paid for by Roskosmos, who do not have that much spare cash. S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia is a separate entity (basically a company that designs and builds space stuff, mainly rockets).

[Wwhat @ Jul 7th 2007 10:27AM]

19 million toilets, perhaps an idea for Google's HQ?

;)

[Wwhat @ Jul 7th 2007 10:30AM]

I meant to say '$19 million'

[GameboyRMH @ Jul 7th 2007 11:03AM]

Hasn't urine been recycled on spacecraft before? And I dare you to find a way to tell the water from the recycled pee from the clean water brought aboard. The resulting water is perfeclty clean. Sure it's not a nice thought, but neither is the fact that the water coming out of your pipe used to be tasty sea water, with boats polluting it, fish crapping/peeing/having sexy time in it, planes dumping fuel in it, and occassionally raw sewage going into it. But the water that comes out of your tap is also clean (although probably not as clean as the recycled pee water, with the lengthy underground pipes running to your house and all).

[Eric @ Jul 7th 2007 11:25AM]

I don't think the system was installed in space before. NASA designed one for the shuttles, but I think it was cut later on.

Also, remember that evaporation and ground percolation takes care of a lot of problems with "seawater." Gotta love old Sol.

[Bagel @ Jul 7th 2007 11:21AM]

None of this is new, the fan system and the recycling are not new, i know the fan is on the shuttles(you strap in, turn it on, and go, also for peeing there is a ... recepticle seen in the picture)once on a mission the fan was going the wrong way... lol. btw spacecamp ftw

[felipe @ Jul 7th 2007 12:34PM]

---- I sense a malfunction after THANKSGIVING DAY!!!!.

[3rdsun @ Jul 7th 2007 2:52PM]

this reminds me of MF Doom's Vats of Urine. ummm tastey

[Martyhead @ Jul 7th 2007 7:45PM]

$19 Million? YOU have got to be shitting me!

[DBOSS @ Jul 7th 2007 9:08PM]

Billy Bob says: "I'm gonna test this new toilets."
Sasha says: "Be my guest."

An hour passes and Sasha approached the toilet. She knocks and says:
"Are you done yet? We gotta go."
"Gimme another hour... I... can't... flush!!"

[hothotdisco @ Jul 8th 2007 3:50AM]

Why don't the Russians just share their damn toilet with the Americans? lol

[Ari @ Jul 28th 2007 1:50PM]

15M or 19M, it still seems a lot for NASA to pay for a urine reconstitution system. Think about it -- one could hire a team of say, 8 recent MIT grads to design an ideal system and give them a year to do it. If they each got paid $80K/yr, we're talking a total of $640K for labor. Let's double that for materials and workspace, so in total, $1.28M. Let's just say I'm a complete idiot and have underestimated this by about 100% -- then the cost would be $2.56M. Still a fraction of what NASA paid. If the team were a private company outsourced by NASA, they could then license their tech for other purposes. I don't know what other industries could use this, perhaps sewage treatment plants?

This money could be going towards good purposes -- think of all the starving Africans we could feed, or all the air & water testing we could do to ensure American health (both mental and physical), or the number of informants we could buy in the Middle East, or who knows what. Who knows, maybe this is about more than the space program -- perhaps this is our way of making sure Russia doesn't sell their most advanced technologies off to rogue nations (or at least competing nations).

[Ariel Hoffman @ Jul 30th 2007 7:03PM]

So... A space toilet to suck the crap outta you for $19M. Not bad.

HOWEVER....
you gotta wonder what happens inside. I mean, when the shit hits the high-powered fan... :)

(Sorry, I just had to.)