Boing Boing  -
1 days and 4 hours ago
Oh, what won't intrepid NYT reporter John Schwartz do for space journalism! Snip: There are many
elements of [NASA's current Space Shuttle Endeavor] mission, which is devoted to further
construction of the station and improvements that will allow the station to double its crew size
from three to six next year. But the gizmo that is getting the most attention is the “water
recovery system,” which will recycle the station’s water supply. That’s right:
urine, sweat in the air, waste water and other forms of moisture will be fed into the system,
distilled and sent back to the tap. The system, created at a cost of about $250 million, will
recycle about 93 percent of the water used aboard the station. The cost of lifting supplies up to
orbit is so high, though, that NASA estimates the system could pay for itself in as little as two
years. Similar systems would be essential to maintaining long-term bases on faraway outposts on the
Moon and Mars. The astronauts don’t have a problem with this system. As Sandra H. Magnus, one
of the astronauts who will be among the first to drink water produced by the new system aboard the
station, noted in a recent interview, our earthbound water has been endlessly filtered through
bodies, evaporated and rained down again. “We drink recycled water every day,” she
said, “on a little bit longer time scale.” You'll have to read the whole piece to learn
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Recommandations
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and reject those that you are not interested in
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