NASA Gets Ready To Send Out Its US$23 Million Toilet To Space
Image via NASA
Back in June, NASA held a crowdsourcing competition to seek a new design for its restroom in the International Space Station (ISS). Now, the space agency has unveiled the final waste system to be launched on 1 October 2020.
The new loo, also known as the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS), cost US$23 million to be built, and comes with significant upgrades to the current toilet in the ISS. The new titanium version is 65-percent smaller and 40-percent lighter than the one currently in use by the ISS, per Space.com.
As NASA hopes to send its first woman to the moon by 2024, the new model is designed to be female-friendly with a urine funnel and seat in place.
“The toilet was designed for exploration and it builds on previous spaceflight toilet design,” said NASA Advanced Exploration Systems Logistics Reduction project manager Melissa McKinley in a statement. “The big key to the exploration piece of the design is looking to optimize mass volume and power usage, which are all very important components of a spacecraft design.”
The latest waste system will be installed beside the current toilet in Node after it lands on the ISS via the Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo capsule. The astronauts will also receive other treats including an oven and cookie dough to test in space as part of the resupply mission.
To Boldly Go
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) September 26, 2020
What's more exciting than a new toilet? A new SPACE toilet.@NASA https://t.co/6sIh97TsNI pic.twitter.com/c1hHQxDtzw
[via Travel + Leisure, cover image via nasa]
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