Posted on 11/18/2016 9:31:15 AM PST by BenLurkin
The agency is asking innovators to create fecal, urine and menstrual management systems for spacesuits, that would work for up to six days.
NASA astronauts wear diapers to take care of their bodily needs while they're launching, landing or spacewalking. However, these diapers are only good for a few hours; sitting in poop, urine or menstrual fluid for more than that is bad for your health, and your backside, besides.
"Future missions may require long-duration waste management for use by a pressurized suited crew member," NASA wrote in a statement on HeroX, a website where people or organizations can host incentive-based competitions.
Further complicating the challenge is the requirement that the system work in microgravity, in a pressurized spacesuit. This means would-be designers need to contend with floating water and debris that everybody really, really wants to keep far away from human orifices or vital spacesuit systems.
The new system will be designed for NASA's Modified Advanced Crew Escape Suit, an improvement on the orange spacesuit used for shuttle launches and landings. That suit is expected to be used by astronauts on the Orion spacecraft.
The submission deadline for the Space Poop Challenge is Dec. 20, and winners will be announced Jan. 31, 2017. You can see all the guidelines and rules on this website. https://herox.com/SpacePoop/
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Sorry. Wore diapers once already in my life. Wouldn’t want to do it again.
Since there are no showers on space craft, cleaning up sounds like it can’t be very pleasant.
How about realizing that a robot would be better suited to going into space?
Think of how drones are controlled today, remotely. Think of virtual reality. Put the two together and humans can experience space exploration remotely, with no danger to them, and with bathroom breaks, real food and real showers.
The whole experience will be captured and recorded. It can be replayed and re-experienced by millions of humans, with no discomfort.
The human in space is a drag. Takes up valuable space and requires food, water and waste disposal.
All those movies about super-atomic weapons being blasted away toward the outer fringes of the universe so they won’t find their way back to earth. Yet this waste is sub-planet orbit, uh . . .
My kid is waiting to hear about his first job in the aerospace business. I’ll let him know about this as a fallback.
He interviewed yesterday and should hear next week.
I think I’ll stay on Earth in my own house with a working handle on the toilet.
Oh, the implications of the “Zero-Gee Club” have been discussed, and rumor has it, it’s already been done on at least one Shuttle flight, when we still flew the shuttle. .
They also can't do laundry, so they wear the same clothes for a certain period of time. Then the old clothes are added to the trash and replaced by new clothes.
It also said the sense of smell is diminished in space. I hope so.
Easy. A rubber diaper with a shop-vac hook up.
I thought Lisa Nowak solved this a few years back...
“drivin’ herself crazy / like the astronaut lady”
In space no one can hear you fart.
I was thinking the same idea. Secure hose connections in the orifices, with sensors that when activated gently vacuum away the body waste and capture it in a secure bag. Just like a shop-vac. The astronauts would need to be trained in how to fasten these connections to each other and do maintenance, which will make for some interesting inter-personal relationships.
Talk about lighting a fire under someone's butt.
I agree, there is no real justifiable reason for sending humans into space right now, short of to low earth orbit for science experiments.
The Waste Collection System is designed to be used by both men and women,since only one person can use it at a time. It has both male and female attachments.
Oh Yeah? What if they're neither? :-)
Revised: Rather than using vacuum connected to the rubber diapers, direct pressure from the suit at key locations in the diaper, using the air flow to push the waste out a tube, rather than suction. At the contest website they specify the operating pressure of the suit, but the number means nothing to me right now, so I’m not sure if that amount of pressure would do anything. Probably have to coat everything in a superhydrophobic coating, even the skin.
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