The life of an astronaut may sound like a glamorous career, but it requires a lot of hard work and dedication. They have to spend weeks or even months away from Earth, their loved ones, and the warm embrace of gravity. They have to endure endless “Tang” jokes. Sometimes they even have to drink recycled wastewater.
We say “sometimes” because not every drop of astronaut urine turns into delicious water. The urine they dump into their spacesuits is simply washed away or thrown away when they return to the spacecraft. A new Frank Herbert-inspired space suit by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University. Dune novels can make spacewalks longer and less disgusting by recycling expelled urine in a special filtration backpack. Research and design teams from both schools have published their findings in a scientific journal Borders.
These suits are called “Style Suits”. Dune universe and soldiers can capture moisture to turn it into drinkable water while walking and fighting in the barren desert world of Arrakis. Stand suits offered in real life do about the same thing. The new photosuits feature an “external catheter leading to a vacuum-based combined reverse osmosis unit” that astronauts carry on their backs, says study lead author and research associate Sophia Etlin. press release.
The suits were intended to include future NASA space missions Artemis II and Artemis III missions that will orbit the moon and touch its south pole within the next two years. NASA and Axiom Space has already approved a spacesuit design for lunar missions, but it looks like this new filtration system could be added to them. Stable suits could also be used for a Mars space mission in the early 2030s.
Stable suits will not only quench the thirst of astronauts during spacewalks, but also make them more hygienic. The traditional NASA spacesuit design, which has been in circulation since the 1970s, only comes with a superabsorbent polymer to catch astronauts’ urine. This means that every astronaut who went on a spacewalk or moonwalk peed in their space pants.
This outdated waste system also caused hygiene and medical problems for astronauts, such as urinary tract infections (UTIs) and gastrointestinal problems. That’s why you’ve never seen Paul Atreides battling diverticulitis.
NASA has not officially adopted a new spacesuit design from Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University for any of its upcoming space missions. We imagine if we were on the International Space Station and had to endure a long spacewalk after drinking too much Tang, we’d be calling NASA to step up.
