It is no secret that humans defecate, even in space.
But the actual physical act of going to the bathroom while floating in space can be tricky, to say the least. In a new contest, NASA calls on innovators from around the world to develop a new space bath That would work not only in microgravity, such as aboard the International Space Station, but also in lunar gravity aboard a future lunar lander as part of NASA. Artemis Program which aims to return humans to the moon by 2024. The contest has a total prize pool of $ 35,000 to be shared by the winning teams.
“This challenge hopes to attract radically new and different approaches to the problem of capture and containment of human waste.” NASA wrote in an overview of the challenge., titled “NASA Lunar Challenge Loo”.
The challenge is being overseen by the NASA Tournament Lab and organized in the crowdsourcing site HeroX.
Video: Space Toilet Technique: NASA’s Practical Guide (Video)
Plus: How to urinate in space (and what to do if the toilet breaks)
Anyone can apply for this challenge and the winning design will receive a prize of $ 20,000, the second place design will win $ 10,000 and the third place winner will win $ 5,000. The contest even includes a “junior” category in which children (anyone under the age of 18) can apply with their innovative space bath idea. Children in the junior category can earn “public recognition and an official merchandise item with the NASA logo,” according to the challenge summary.
Specifically, the contest requires designs that work on lunar gravity, which is roughly one-sixth of Earth’s gravity and microgravity. Designs must also take up no more than 4.2 cubic feet (0.12 cubic meters) of space and should be no more than 60 decibels (that’s about the same volume as a bathroom fan on Earth, according to the same statement ).
The space toilet shall be able to collect urine and feces at the same time and contain at least a quart (1 liter) of liquid waste and 17.6 ounces (500 grams) of solid waste. The device must also be able to capture at least 114 grams of menstrual blood per day.
Related: SpaceX has a new space bath for astronauts. but how does it work?
The final requirements are that the system must be able to store or dispose of the waste and must be able to be cleaned and maintained “with a response time of 5 minutes or less between uses,” the statement reads.
Hopefully, this next-generation space toilet will be a major step forward for some of the most challenging debris removal systems ever used in space throughout the history of human space flight.
During NASA Apollo Program In the 1960s and early 1970s, astronauts urinated into a “relief tube” (designed for male astronauts only, as women were not yet allowed into the NASA astronaut corps) that they would throw the urine into the space where the urine would freeze. Apollo astronauts would also have to figure out how to get their solid waste into plastic bags that they were to bring back to Earth for study.
The space shuttle had toilets known as the Debris Collection System, which emptied debris into the vacuum of space. But it didn’t always work perfectly. The International Space Station improved the space toilet with a new design, and NASA is working on a new space bath known as the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS).
To learn more about NASA’s Lunar Loo Challenge, including rules and registration requirements, visit the contest website here.
Email Chelsea Gohd at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom and in Facebook.
