International Space Station crew 'thrilled' to receive new urine recycling equipment
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Nov 13th 2008 9:20PM
posted Nov 13th 2008 9:20PM
If we've learned anything from The Ice Pirates, we've learned that in space -- and increasingly on our planet as well -- water is the most valuable substance. Among the host of upgrades that the International Space Station is set to receive over the next couple weeks is a water purification system that will recycle urine for use as drinking water. Similar technology has been used in the Salyut and Mir space stations to process water collected from the cabin's atmosphere (the result of perspiration, aspiration and A/C condensation) but until now claiming back as much as 92% of water consumed by astronauts was just a wonderful dream. The project is part of a 15-day shuttle mission aimed at increasing the number of astronauts the craft can hold from three to six.
Nice Japanese toilet there.
Though I know it's clean, the idea of washing my hands with toilet water still bothers me.
but the surprising fact is
that
in 80% of households
the toilet water (after flushing)
is cleaner than the water from the faucet
What's even more crazy is that 92.33% repeating of course of stats are made up on the spot
That's not true. The water in your toilet comes from the same source as the water in your faucet and generally sits in a tank that grows mold since it is not air-tight.
ORLY kaikai?
you're saying that faucet water is concentrated in coliform bacteria, biological "solids", nitrogen, urea, and ammonia? Fascinating.
KAIKAI, I don't know where you're living, but you're either an alien or have some dramatically disturbed plumbing.
Maybe instead of reusing faucet waste water to flush, they got it wrong and used the toilet waste water for the faucet. Should hire a professional next time.
I think kaikai is pissed. As in drunk.
I want to see what the space stations toilets look like.
It's for shit!
No, it's for pee.
I'm pretty sure its for both
anyway I was trying to think of a Soviet Russia joke, but for once they came ahead in the field of space plumbing
LOL!
Space plumbing is the only thing that Soviet Russia can get right...
If drinking recycled pee is good for the Fremen, it's good enough for astronauts.
i know its clean but seriously that would take a major mindset change
If you can conquer your fear of laying a brick on someone's chest, this is small change.
another reason why excessive money spent on space travel is a waste.
If we cannot find a better way to travel in space then we are not ready for long journeys... give up, find another way.
What do you want us to do? Fly?
Find another way to travel through the vast void of space? As in, _another_?
I'm so glad we have people as smart as you working on these problems and offering such insightful commentary about it all day long. Get to work on it iHawking.
Pfft.
Wow, you fail as a troll even for non apple related posts.
Obviously current methods of propulsion are antiquated and inferior to the vastness of space. Space travel should be private now. Tax money should not be spent on this.
Tax money should be spent on building a defense network for the non-terrorist countries but not for sending manned missions on lengthy journeys...
yeah teleportation is a much more feasible solution.
God you're annoying
"The Americans spent millions of dollars developing a pen that would function is space. The Russians just used a pencil."
it's not that we shouldn't spend money on the space program, it's just that we should find cheaper, alternative ways to do things just as good. (hard to imagine, i know.)
I prefer the happy-thoughts propulsion technology.
Thing is, the pencil wasn't "just as good", and they all use the pens now. Pencils are dangerous in a weightless environment because bits of the lead snap off and get into the equipment.
No offense, but you might just want to stop talking ... period.
Please, the whole pen thing is a myth. Look it up.
Actually I think the Infinite Improbability Drive is the way to go... :P
---
anyway good to hear that it'll be cheaper to "live" in space...
Ludicrous speed via the Ludicrous Drive
What about propulsion via idiotic twatish fanboy comments.
I know it's clean but i don't want to wash my hands, drink, etc cleaned urine.
yeah, that soda you just drank?
millions of years ago, it was probably dinosaur piss.
liquid is always recycled, at one point in time any liquid was probably a bodily fluid.
Where do you think water comes from? It's all been sitting around or passing through various organisms for billions of years now. Some of the air you breath was part of a fart at some point as well. Good luck protecting your precious bodily fluids!
You probably already do. They just don't tell you that.
Brian, I think xor24 just doesn't like his piss water fresh, xor24 prefers his or her piss water at least 2,000 years old.
They did this in Waterworld, how bad can it be?
yeah, but kevin costner can also survive for years just drinking his own unpurified urine.
almost as bad as the movie.
Waterworld was great, it just didn't make enough money to cover operating costs due to a typhoon or two destroying the set.
"8% lost? That's barely measurable!"
-Paul Atreides
"That's the point."
-Dr. Kynes
Thank you! About time someone inserted the appropriate Dune joke. It's only a matter of time when astronauts on the space station start harvesting water from the victims who accidentally wonder in.
Yeah I couldn't get my mind over drinking that water either. How clean is it after the purification process?
pretty clean.
if your about to die you'd take it ;P
My childhood dream of becoming an astronaut is complete gone after reading this...
Ha ha! They're drinking there own pee!
"Huston we have a problem."
"The lemonade from the lemonade machine taste like urine"
Actually, in this case, they're using the urine from the urine machine for lemonade.
THE CIRCLE OF LIFE
who is Hutson?
lol i fail. who is huston?
You fail again. :-p Where is Huston? I only know of a Houston.
@noyp
i believe the joke you made was the one that low def was going for, but ironically misposted his first reply, which he quickly realized and then reposted saying how he failed followed by his revised joke.
so basically: both of you fail, noyp you're a tool, and i'm a huge asshole.
thats about the jist of it John
They're actually upgrading the ISS? Seems like someone's taking the piss.
Urinorade yum
WOW!!!
I had no idea that space urine was blue. That's freakin' sweet.
what happens when the astro-nots go home after this what if they start drinking there piss in forgetfulness?
I am your correctly capitalized counterpart.
(and look! an alliteration! it's a good day today)
so umm, I'm guessing if you go #2 it will come out as bread right?
Fudge.
I heard about this on www.mexicanunited.com
i heard about your mom on cougarsontheloose.com
omg i just +1'd phanbouy....
You do all realize that all of us drink everyone else's urine.
It is called a sewage and water treatment plant...
The water that you drink now is much, much less pure than the water that will come out of the purification system on the space station. Unless you have some sort of urinary tract or bladder infection, urine is pretty much sterile as it leaves the body.
Don't forget though, that modern filtration means that purified recycled toilet water is as clean (especially in terms of taste), if not moreso, than average tap water. Bear in mind that tap water coming out of a large-scale filtration plant travels many km undergound through aging pipes with limited maintainance, often accumulating impurities along the way. It's healthier to drink highly purified water from your own premises, regardless of where the water was sourced from. Once its purified, it all exactly the same, just H2O
"Blech!
This piss tastes like water!"
Come on no Ice Pirates references. That movie rocks!
D'ya think ya could stay focused until words 6, 7 and 8 in the article? Huh? Maybe??
I think somebody is about to get sued for false advertising, because this is definitely the most sophisticated piece of technology that anybody is ever going to pee on!
I drink distilled :P
you shouldn't. the natural minerals in spring water of tap water are actually beneficial to your body. Its kind of hard to get many of them drinking distilled waater (unless you eat tones of total or something, but thats just nasty.)
then again, i might just be missing a joke here.
aspiration = breathing in (e.g. you drown when you aspirate too much liquid water)
respiration = breathing out (releasing water vapor)
good job again, editors
Actually, respiration is a combination of breathing in and out; technically it is the process of using oxygen to break down carbohydrates and such to release energy (i.e., combustion) and producing carbon dioxide as a by-product.
I say old cap, any on up for a spot of PEE !!!
My friend's 8 year old brother made that joke once.
A couple of questions, you know, since they're in space:
how does the water stay in the toilet bowl?
when peeing, why would said pee go into the bowl and not up, sideways, around, everywhere? same with poop. i sort of figured they wore depends or the like.
is tang really just pee?
I believe they use some sort of suction system. They have more info on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_toilet
wow
In space, no one can hear you wretch...
Necessary? Is it necessary for me to drink my own urine?
No, but I do it anyway because it's sterile and I like the taste.
Whats the problem. Some people detox using urine.
http://nyheter24.se/nyheter/utrikes/article52019.n24?token=-1730525917
//Willie
Just 'thrilled'? Aren't they also 'relieved'?
who cares. the whole premise of the int'l space station is for the Illuminati to further control earth and the universe. ask evelyn de rothschild and his whore of a wife to drink this piss, that'll be a start to fixing the world's problems.
The day after urine is really good at helping those whack blemishes that just won't go away...good luck at getting your stream on a cotton swab!
just a thought...
Cheers!
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i dont know whats more disgusting the water in that toilet or the yellowish color of the toilet.