astronauts
dehydration
drinking water
hydration
nasa
remodeling
secrets
space
survival
water filtration
Okay whatever happened to NASA keeping secrets?
By taface412
@taface412 (3175)
United States
November 24, 2008 7:50pm CST
I heard about this last week. And then again not too long ago. ANd then again this morning...and well honestly I am beginning to think what in the world.
Apparently, it's too hard and/or expensive to send fresh drinking water to the astronauts in space. So while they are remodeling...like I said I was dumbfounded by this next satement so all other info is lost to me LOL...they will also be building a filtration system that will recycle their urine....YES I SAID URINE.
Now, the first thought that popped into my head was...if I was an astronaut in space and I found out they were telling everyone down here on Earth I will be drinking my own urine for hydration purposes...well let's just say when I make it home I will be very mad.
Didn't NASA keep stuff secret before? Could this not be one of those things?
Oh and they will be sending a bottle home to Earth to run tests on it to make sure it is clean for drinking.....who is GONNA taste test this?
One of the girls at work said it might be one of those medical test places that have you spend the night for some large $$$$. HAHAHA
Well, either way I know it is for survival but honestly I would not want people to know.
Would you?
5 responses
@Citizen_Stuart (2016)
•
25 Nov 08
It's not like it's a big secret. Space stations have been recycling both water and air for decades. They have to, otherwise they'd keep having to ship tons of water up there. I'm not sure if they recycled water on Skylab, but they certainly did on Mir, and probably on the Salyut space stations too. Otherwise it would be economically prohibitive to keep crews up there. I imagine when Bigalow Aerospace get their space hotel operational, they'll do the same thing.
@taface412 (3175)
• United States
26 Nov 08
So at the space hotel instead of asking for sparkling water we'll ask for sparkling recycled urine...
I just don't know how to market that one...
1 person likes this
@Citizen_Stuart (2016)
•
26 Nov 08
No worries, if you can afford a week in space, you can afford champagne every day instead of water. 
@gitfiddleplayer (10362)
• United States
25 Nov 08
Yea, that's one of those "keep it between us" things. Now when they start eating their own waste I'm rocketing off to the sun, don't worry, I'll go at night.
@soooobored (1184)
• United States
25 Nov 08
Personally, I like knowing a little bit about what we're paying for when we send people to space! A lot of the technology that is used in space exploration is irrelevant to humans on earth, so it's nice when they develop things that could have more practical applications. One day we might all need to drink our pee and sweat, so by the time we get there the technology will be perfected!
@savak03 (6684)
• United States
25 Nov 08
When you think about it, all the water we drink has been through someone's body before. We pour our waste onto the ground and nature filters it. The sun raises it up into the clouds and rains it back down to water the earth and replenish the water table.
Even better than that, all towns have a water treatment plant where the sewers all pour into. Then this waste is treated and purified. The water is then put back into the system.
So, the filtering system to turn our urine into drinking water has been in place for as long as the earth has been standing. We just don't like to think about it.
@Undertheoath (365)
• United States
25 Nov 08
Well I do not know the specifications if this was a MUST have or if this was just an attempt to make the ISS more efficient. However I would also be extremely pissed if I was forced to down some "cleaned" Urine haha.
