THE company tasked with building the space capsule that will return American astronauts to the moon has made an unusual appeal - for human urine.
THE company tasked with building the space capsule that will return American astronauts to the moon has made an unusual appeal - for human urine.
Hamilton Sundstrand wants to take the wee from employees at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston and the need is large - 30 litres a day, including weekends.
It may seem strange, but the request is part of solving a major problem in designing the new Orion space capsule, that of getting rid of stored urine.
John Lewis, NASA's head of life support systems for Orion, said the wee problem is a “really a challenge” because the solids in urine clog the venting system used to dispose of it.
The appeal is the latest in a long list of similar requests from NASA, which collects urine samples from workers in a bid to design better space toilets.
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