Without water missions into space would be extremely short. We all need this simple commodity to live, and astronauts are no exception to the rule. As exploration missions involve longer time periods in space now than ever before, a constant supply of water is needed for drinking, re-hydrating food and for hygiene purposes.
The way that some of the water used on space shuttles is produced may not sound pretty to your ears, but then neither would some of the latest plans for producing tap water in certain places on Earth either. But that’s another story!
Water in space comes from several different sources. One of them is from Earth, as a small amount of water can be carried up into space. However, water is heavy, so much so that water from most food taken into space is removed as it’s important not to have too much weight during lift off.
As not very much water needed for a mission can be taken on board a shuttle more ingenious ways of producing and harnessing water have been utilised. Water collected in vapour form, from sweat and breath, is clean, much like rainwater. Recycling water in this way saves a huge amount of money and helps to solve the problem of possible water shortages.
The recycling system used, also known as WRS, uses water collected from urine too. This may not sound like a pleasant idea but the water produced from the system is said to be purer than the water that comes out of taps in some counties in America. The waste products that are recycled come from both the astronauts, and from laboratory animals which are taken into space for this purpose. On top of this water used during washing and cleaning teeth is thrown in for good measure.
Here on Earth mother nature provides us with a natural recycling system via the evaporation of rainfall and the biosphere. Most of us are lucky enough to have water all around us and sometimes lose sight of exactly how important it is. Those of us who don’t are more likely to understand that water is precious to all life.
The future of space exploration is dependant on water, just as life is back here on solid ground. If mankind is to travel further afield and expand their knowledge of the universe then we need to continue to develop ways to provide our astronauts with that which we take for granted at home.
Sources; http://www.spaceflight.nas.gov
http://www.curious.astro.cornell.edu
http://www.ksn.larc.nasa.gov
