NASA engineers designed a state of the art toilet system to go onboard both Artemis II and the International Space Station, and the futuristic loo boasts a number of incredible features
If you type into Google the words ‘How do astronauts…’ what do you expect the search engine’s autocomplete suggests? “How do astronauts live in zero gravity? Or train for a space walk? perhaps how do they reacclimatise when they return back to earth?
Of course not. The question we most want the answer to is “how do astronauts go the toilet?“, with more specific questions about pooping and peeing also scoring high.
Should we be surprised? After all, most of us haven’t the foggiest about rock samples or asteroid belts, but going to the loo is a crucial part of everyone’s lives, from Buzz Aldrin to Bonnie Blue.
The answer is by no means obvious either. There’s no gravity in space, and things falling out of other things is, to put it bluntly, a vital aspect of any trip to the toilet.
To deal with this issue, NASA engineers were granted millions of dollars to play around with different ideas for space toilets. After years of stinky research, they created a state-of-the-art system to go aboard the International Space Station and the recent Artemis flight.
the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) is no ordinary bog. The state-of-the-art toilet system not only gets around the no-gravity issue, but also cleverly recycles the water found in urine and faeces so that, as one astronaut put it, “today’s coffee is tomorrow’s coffee!”
The gravity issue is solved by essentially having the toilet suck the poo and pee out of the astronauts.
According to NASA, “In the absence of gravity, space toilets use air flow to pull urine and faeces away from the body and into the proper receptacles.”
NASA explained the difference between urination and defecation when it came to the UWMS: “The crew use a specially shaped funnel and hose for urine and the seat for bowel movements.”
They added, “the funnel and seat can be used simultaneously, reflecting feedback from female astronauts.”
While admitting that the seat probably looked a bit “uncomfortably small and pointy”, NASA added that it provided “ideal body contact to make sure everything goes where it should.”
The suction feature also helps to deal with unpleasant odours, as when the “toilet lid is lifted”, a powerful “airflow” is released from the bowl.
A crucial aspect of the futuristic loo is its ability to sanitise and recycle waste, reintegrating it back into the space craft.
A NASA press release explained: “Improved integration with other components of the space station water system will aid in recycling more urine, which, yes, the astronauts do drink after it is filtered and processed.”
“We recycle about 90% of all water-based liquids on the space station, including urine and sweat,” explains NASA astronaut Jessica Meir.
“What we try to do aboard the space station is mimic elements of Earth’s natural water cycle to reclaim water from the air. And when it comes to our urine on ISS, today’s coffee is tomorrow’s coffee!”
While NASA do not currently recycle faeces, they are “studying this capability”, according to a press release.
For those wondering where things like toilet paper and wipes go, the answer is “water-tight bags” which are also used to store some “solid waste” which is “compacted in a removable faecal storage canister.”
And when it comes to getting rid of the poo for good, NASA leave no stone unturned.
According to the space boffins, while most of the “faecal canisters” are “loaded into a cargo ship that burns up on re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere”, some lucky astronauts see their stools brought back to Earth for “evaluation”. Lucky!