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Urine Passes NASA Taste Test

Posted by kdawson on from the not-mine dept.

Ponca City, We love you writes "Astronauts flying aboard space shuttle Endeavour are delivering a device to the International Space Station that may leave you wondering if NASA is taking recycling too far. Among the ship's cargo is a water regeneration system that distills, filters, ionizes, and oxidizes wastewater — including urine — into fresh water for drinking or, as one astronaut puts it, 'will make yesterday's coffee into today's coffee.' The US space agency spent $250M for the water recycling equipment but with the space shuttles due to retire in two years, NASA needed to make sure the station crew would have a good supply of fresh water. The Environmental Control and Life Support Systems uses a purification process called vapor compression distillation: urine is boiled until the water in it turns to steam. In space, there's an additional challenge: steam doesn't rise, so the entire distillation system is spun to create artificial gravity to separate the steam from the brine. The water has been thoroughly tested on Earth, including blind taste tests that pitted recycled urine with similarly treated tap water. 'Some people may think it's downright disgusting, but if it's done correctly, you process water that's purer than what you drink here on Earth,' said Endeavour astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper."

6 of 404 comments (clear)

  1. Frosty piss? by renegadesx · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Am I the only person who this jumped to mind when when I RTFA?

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  2. Re:Yeah, well by chill · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Because he was only puking for an hour, not all day.

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  3. Get over it... by actionbastard · · Score: 0, Redundant

    For cryin' out loud. The water that we all drink today, was waste from an untold number of lifeforms that have come before us. With this device, NASA is doing in a few hours or minutes what the Earth does in about ten-thousand years. The only thing repulsive about it is its 'immediacy'.

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  4. In case you're squeamish by DynaSoar · · Score: 0, Redundant

    ... just consider the fact that all the water on Earth has been through at least one animal at least one time. It's ALL urine.

    You may squeam at will.

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    "I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
  5. I hate to tell you... by vanyel · · Score: 0, Redundant

    ...but your tap water is recycled urine too, it just happens to be a mostly natural process...

  6. Re:More like "not far enough" by Kamokazi · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Joke-----> ~~~~*

    Your head-> O

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