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ISS Gets New Recycling Gear, Ready For Larger Crew

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the yay-for-august dept.

TnGoastiiaiu submitted a space.com story that expands on coverage we've had earlier about improvements being made to the ISS to increase crew capacity. He writes "ISS gets new recycling gear that transforms human waste to drinking water. Some of the water will be used to get Oxygene, too. This way it will soon be possible to host more crew members. " Also, someone needs to smack the webmaster over there for putting a background texture behind the text. It's pretty unreadable along the left hand side of the screen.

3 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. I always thought... by Thelasko · · Score: 4, Interesting

    the number of crew members aboard the ISS was limited by the size of the escape vehicle.

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    1. Re:I always thought... by richdun · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yes, a second Soyuz is the key for escape (that's why capacity will be 6, instead of the original 7 I think that could fit in the X-38). But they've also been limited by sleeping arrangements, which the new Node 3 will provide, along with having all the labs up and running. While the station might have supported 6 crew members on just the Russian and US sections, things would have been very cramped without the EU and Japanese labs around to help pay for things... er... I mean... give them all things to do.

  2. Re:Waste hydrogen? by LunaticTippy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You could still use it as fuel. Pressurize it using solar power and use it as an unburned positioning jet. If you're throwing it away anyway, you could get some use from it.

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