Since 2003, NASA has been perfecting its water recycling mechanism, which turns gray water into clean drinking water for use on shuttles and at the International Space Station. This technology was investigated in order for water at the Space Station to be more environmentally efficient as well as less costly. Between 2000 and 2005, sending water to the International Space Station cost around $60 million. The new water filter development effectively recycles 93% of all input water, allowing nearly all of the water used at the Station to be recycled.NASA's purification system uses a process called forward osmosis. This process enables the purification of sweat, urine, and gray water into clean drinking water. The filtration system is expected to cut back the need for shipping water to the Space Station by around 65% and has the capacity to produce 6,000 gallons of water per year. The amount of fresh water recycled is enough to support six crew members as opposed to three. NASA also hopes to improve the capacity and efficiency of the water recycler so that it can be used for longer-term shuttle travel in the future.
NASA's water recycler opens new doors for water purification. Should this technology prove useful and cost effective on a smaller scale, it could mean clean drinking water for more people and advanced reuse of a finite resource. SmartPlanet recently spoke with Michael Flynn, a researcher at the NASA Ames Research Center, who works on improving the water purification system. A video of Flynn explaining the device and the process of forward osmosis is located below.
Photo: "Space Shuttle Launch" By CosmoBC from Flickr used under Creative Commons Copyright
Video: "How NASA is Recycling Urine into Drinking Water" by SmartPlanetCBS from YouTube
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