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NASA Flushing Money Down The Commode?
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by rjhjr | July 6, 2007 at 08:07 am
522 views | 10 Recommendations | 2 comments
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NASA announced that it will pay $19 million for a Russian-made toilet system for the International Space Station (ISS). While that sum sounds like it's out of this world, NASA insists that it's less expensive than starting from scratch and building their own.
NASA spokeswoman Lynnette Madison compared the cosmic commode to a "municipal treatment center on Earth". Madison also said it helps that astronauts are already familiar with the equipment, since it will be similar to one already in use on the ISS.
One of the options: the system will be able to transfer urine to a device that can produce drinking water. It will also feature leg restraints and thigh bars to help keep astronauts in place, as well as offer more privacy than the current system in use.
The new loo will be installed on the American side of the ISS, while the current system will remain in place on the Russian side.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 07:44 on July 7th, 2007
rjhjr, this is great. Where did you find out about this?
I remember first reading about the conversion of urine into drinking water in Frank Herbert's political-science-fiction classic Dune; I remember thinking that it was a bit weird in terms of what we were used to, but the reasoning was sound.
at 09:02 on July 7th, 2007
Jordan --
Thanks for the tip o' the hat! ;-)
I first heard about the $19m toilet on yesterday morning's news. After digging a little further, I discovered the part about the accompanying device that will convert urine to drinking water. (Last night on MSNBC's "Countdown", Keith Olbermann said the $19m wouldn't be enough to test that part of the new system! LOL!)
I also remember a scene from the less-than-memorable Kevin Costner film "Waterworld", where he, too, had a device that converted his urine to water.
Once again, fiction become reality!
Thanks again!