Great...hyper astronauts high on coffee

"Coffee on its way to space station, made by ISSpresso coffee machine (really)"

by

Trevor Mogg

June 16th, 2014

Digital Trends

After a hard day’s space walking, astronauts would probably love nothing more than to strap themselves securely into their favorite armchair and relax with a cup of freshly brewed coffee as they…ahem…watch the world go by.

With Starbucks yet to open an outlet 250 miles above Earth (hey, give it time), space travelers have been faced with a limited number of options when it comes to beverages, though thanks to a recent collaboration between space-food specialists Argotec and coffee company Lavazza, that looks set to change.

For over a year the pair have been working on the – OK, prepare to cringe – ISSpresso coffee machine, describing it as “the first capsule-based espresso system able to work in the extreme conditions of space.”

The companies, both Italian (well, what did you expect?), said their revolutionary machine can deliver the “perfect espresso” in a weightless environment, as well as other drinks such as tea, infusions and broth.

It gets better – the machine will apparently be placed in a new ‘corner cafe’ on the ISS, “a hub for socializing on board the station.” Corner cafe?!? It seems Starbucks really does have a chance to open a branch in space.

Designing the ISSpresso was clearly no easy task, with engineers forced to overcome challenges like how to handle liquids at high pressure and high temperature in microgravity conditions.

“The machine is so complex that it weighs about 20 kilograms since there are back-ups of all the critical components for safety reasons in accordance with the specifications agreed upon with the Italian Space Agency,” Lavazza said in a release. Company VP Giuseppe Lavazza added that he hoped the ISSpresso will help “improve the living and nutrition quality of astronauts engaged on long missions.”

The coffee maker is set to be blasted skyward in November – together with Samantha Cristoforetti, Italy’s first female astronaut – offering coffee-loving ISS inhabitants their first taste of the bean-based drink in space (albeit via a pouch and tube).

No Legos at ISS...bummer!

"Mike Suffredini Objects to Legos in Space"

by

Keith Cowing

August 29th, 2012

NASA Watch

"Suff inquired about the relevance of performing the Lego experiment onboard from an ISS research priorities perspective. Ms. Robinson explained that Lego is Leland Melvin's top priority - for education given that Legos are something that children are very familiar with and that can reach tens of thousands of students. Suff asked if the folks at HQ had considered the negative aspects of showcasing Legos in that it may seem we are not utilizing 1SS resources to their fullest capacity. Ms. Robinson explained that she was not aware that people had considered that perspective and would pass this on."

Keith's note: The United States has spent somewhere between $60 to 100 billion on the International Space Station - and the agency's program manager doesn't think that a simple education project - one that uses something simple (Legos) that millions of "future explorers" use every day - is relevant? I do not hear Mike Suffredini objecting to all of the other stuff (baseball caps, college t-shirts, cartoon characters) that make their way onto the ISS. So why pick on something simple that (potentially) allows children to have a personal connection with this incredible on-orbit research facility? This is simply baffling.

Zebra spiders and fungus-killing bacterium to visit the ISS

Dorothy Chen and Sara Ma

"Space Lab Contest Picks Experiments Featuring Spiders and Bacteria"

by

Kenneth Chang

March 22nd, 2012

The New York Times

A zebra spider spins no webs, but instead catches its prey by leaping onto it. But in space, a zebra spider would zip off in a straight line instead of a trajectory curved by gravity, missing its target.

Amr Mohamed, an 18-year-old student from Alexandria, Egypt, wondered if the spider could learn and adjust.

“If they can catch their prey in microgravity, it’s going to be evolutionary,” Mr. Mohamed said, “because it’s going to be the first time in history that an animal changes and adapts its hunting way to the zero-gravity environment.”

Soon he, and the rest of the world, will find out.

Mr. Mohamed’s idea is one of the two global winners of Space Lab, a competition run by YouTube, Google’s video site; Lenovo, the computer manufacturer; and Space Adventures, a space tourism company. Students ages 14 to 18 from around the world were invited to make videos pitching a science experiment to be conducted on the International Space Station.

Two 16-year-olds from Troy, Mich., Dorothy Chen and Sara Ma, formed the other winning team, with an experiment that will look at whether a fungus-killing bacterium will become even more effective at killing fungus when it gets back from a trip that will make it temporarily weightless. Scientists already know that salmonella bacteria become more virulent in zero gravity, and the bacterium in their experiment, Bacillus subtilis, contains the same protein that caused that change in salmonella.

“The idea, that having your experiment in the space station, is so surreal and so literally out of this world,” said Ms. Chen shortly after the winners were announced on Thursday.

As for the zebra spiders, Mr. Mohamed does not think they will figure out how to catch fruit flies in space. These spiders do not spin webs, but they do attach a silk lifeline to themselves before leaping; this will allow them to reel themselves in and try again and again to aim themselves at fruit flies sharing their space station habitat.

Both experiments are already being designed and constructed at BioServe Space Technologies, a research center run by the University of Colorado at Boulder, and are scheduled to fly to the space station on a cargo ship launched by the Japanese space agency. Sunita Williams, a NASA astronaut, is to perform the experiments, which will be broadcast online.

For their grand prize, Ms. Chen and Ms. Ma will go to Japan for the launching of their experiment. Mr. Mohamed chose the other option: He will go to Star City in Russia for a week of the same training that Russian astronauts undergo.

Russian space programs having launch problems

In this image from Rossiya 24 television channel, a Soyuz rocket booster carrying the Progress supply ship is launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Wednesday. The spacecraft, which was bound for the International Space Station, failed to reach its planned orbit Wednesday, and pieces of it fell in Siberia amid a thunderous explosion, officials said.

It still may be a good idea to scrap the ISS earlier.

"Russian spacecraft falls from the sky. Is the International Space Station in trouble?"

The second embarrassing loss of a Russian space vehicle in a week spells trouble for Russia's space program and its ability to maintain the International Space Station.

by

Fred Weir

August 25th, 2011

The Christian Science Monitor

An unmanned Russian space freighter, which was launched on a resupply mission to the International Space Station, careened out of control and blew up in a "thunderous fireball" over Siberia Wednesday.

The blast triggering a state of emergency over a wide region and calls into doubt Russia's ability to handle its space obligations in the post-space shuttle era.

"The explosion was so strong that for 100 kilometers glass almost flew out of the windows," Alexander Borisov, an official in the remote and mountainous Altai Republic, on the Mongolian border, where most of the debris from the destroyed Progress spaceship rained down, was quoted by RIA-Novosti as saying.

Russian media reported Thursday that none of the wreckage fell on populated areas, and 40 lumberjacks who'd been working in the affected zone were all safe and accounted for.

But the main casualty may be Russia's ambitious space program, which is the only link to the ISS since last month's final space shuttle mission left NASA without a spacefaring capability.

The loss of the Progress freighter, which was carrying three tons of food, fuel, and water to the ISS, is the second embarrassing loss of a Russian space vehicle in barely a week, and the third so far this year. Last week, an Express AM-4 telecommunications satellite failed to separate from its Proton-M carrier rocket, and had to be jettisoned.

Yet another crippling setback occurred last December, when three satellites crucial to finalizing Russia's ambitious Glonass orbiting navigation system crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

All of the mishaps apparently involved the Proton-M rocket, the workhorse of Russia's space program, which is used to launch most satellite packages as well as the Progress robot freighters and the Soyuz manned space vehicles.

The good news is that the six astronauts currently aboard the ISS, orbiting some 250 miles above the Earth, apparently have "fat reserves" of food and water after being visited by the space shuttle Atlantis on its last voyage in July.

"We're in a good position logistically to withstand this loss of supplies," Mike Suffredini, manager of the space station program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, was quoted by news agencies as saying. "And in fact, I would tell you we can go several months without a resupply vehicle if that becomes necessary."

The bad news is that they may be stranded, at least for some time. Three of the ISS crew members were slated to be replaced by a Soyuz mission in late September.

But Russian space officials say they will probably ground all Progress and Soyuz spaceships until the fault can be analyzed and corrected.

"The scheduled launches of the [Soyuz] rockets are likely to be suspended because of the space freighter accident until the reasons [for the accident] are established," an unnamed Russian space official was quoted by RIA-Novosti as saying Thursday.

Four Russian flights to the ISS, two of them manned, had been scheduled for later this year. After retiring its last space shuttle, the US space agency NASA agreed to pay its Russian counterpart, Roskosmos, more than $1 billion for resupply missions to the ISS over the next four years.

Russian space experts argue that the problems, while serious, are not necessarily crippling. They insist that Wednesday's Progress crash was the first such failure in the 130 launches that have taken place since the robot freighters entered service in 1972.

They also point to recent key successes for Russia's space program, such as last month's launch of RadioAstron, a Russian space telescope that will deliver images of distant cosmic objects with 10,000 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Nano undies

Was it worth billions to discover long-lasting underwear? This may provide a new twist to seduction.

"To boldly go where no undies have gone before"

by

Jeff Mullin

August 1st, 2009

Commentary

Many people doubt the value of America's manned space program and the billions of dollars spent on it annually.

These naysayers simply don't see what good comes from going to space.

The value of human exploration of space is lost on them. They get no thrill from knowing men and women have left this mortal coil for the blackness of space, that men have walked on the moon and littered the rocky orb's surface like inconsiderate campers.

The fact is, the U.S. space program has spawned dozens of products, from enhanced baby formula to advanced means of breast cancer detection.

NASA research has helped give us scratch-resistant lenses, more aerodynamic golf balls, voice-controlled wheelchairs, improved aircraft engines and advanced lubricants.

But the latest innovation to come through the space research and development pipeline may just be the most significant — semi-permanent underwear.

Astronaut Koichi Wakata spent the past four and one-half months aboard the International Space Station. He only had four pairs of underwear. And he didn't wash them, not even in the sink. He wore the same pair of bionic BVDs for a month.

The space-age, Japanese-designed skivvies are made of cotton and polyester, are silver-coated and seamless. The high-tech drawers are kind of a cross between briefs and boxers — call them broxers.

According to Wakata, who returned to earth last week with the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour, he says he received no complaints from crew mates on the space station about his long-term long johns. Of course in space no one can hear you say "What is that smell?"

Also, the toilets on the ISS always are malfunctioning, so perhaps Wakata's uncommon union suit was merely a minor contributor to the station's ambiance. However, after the shuttle left the station, one of the major air-purifying systems failed. There is no word whether Wakata's interplanetary panties were a contributing factor.

But maybe they really work. The out-of-this-world underclothes, dubbed J-Wear, are anti-bacterial, water-absorbent, odor-eliminating, anti-static and flame retardant. J-Wear also comes in socks, shirts and pants.

Underwear that doesn't require frequent washing would be a must on long-term space missions like an eventual trip to Mars or beyond. There are no laundromats on other planets, and, even if there were, who would want to spend their whole trip watching a dryer spin?

Beyond the space program, if J-Wear passes the smell test, so to speak, it could be a boon to humanity that could rank right up there with the greatest inventions of all time, like the wheel, penicillin and pizza.

Think of the advantages for young men leaving home for the first time, bachelors or busy mothers. No more once a week trips to the laundry room, those could be reduced to monthly visits instead. Or perhaps could be reduced to zero. J-Wear is disposable.

During my college days I didn't wash clothes until the laundry bag was full and/or the drawers in the battered old dorm dresser were empty. I would stuff as many clothes as I could in one washer, plug in a couple of quarters and leave. When I returned my undies were not only clean, but often had taken on lovely pastel hues.

Moms, do you feel like your entire life is spent shuttling kids around, cooking or doing laundry? J-Wear won't help you with the first two problems, but your wash-day chores could be lessened considerably. This could be seen as one small step for a man, one giant leap for Mom-kind.

Can you imagine being able to wear the same clothes for a month before they needed to be washed? Not that you'd wear the same outfit every day, but instead of putting your clothes in the hamper every night, you'd just hang them up and wear them again — rather like I do now anyway.

I will wear clothes day after day until my wife gets wind of me and tosses them in the laundry basket. Sometimes the cats will give me away when they begin pawing the ground next to me like they are trying to bury something foul in their litter box.

The success of J-Wear would be detrimental to the makers of washers and dryers, as well as companies marketing laundry detergent. Sales of deodorant, perfume, cologne and body wash, however, likely would skyrocket.

For the record, Wakata brought his dirty drawers home with him in his suitcase, much like a college student returning home on break. If the NASA technicians opening the astronaut’s suitcase don't gag, faint or run screaming from the room, the experiment will be a success. Either that or they are mothers of teen-agers and are immune to such olfactory shocks.


ISS necessary?

Endeavour is struck by debris

Endeavour

July 15th, 2009

Still more evidence of the perils of man in space...need I say more. Serious or not...the whole program needs to be reevaluated.

"Debris Strikes Endeavour During Liftoff"

by

Kenneth Chang

July 16th, 2009

The New York Times

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — As the space shuttle Endeavour lifted off into orbit Wednesday evening, several pieces of debris fell off the external fuel tank and at least one hit the orbiter.

Astronauts in space and engineers on the ground will be spending the next few days examining and analyzing the damage to see if it might pose a danger to the Endeavour on re-entry.

The shuttle Columbia disintegrated in 2003, killing the seven astronauts aboard, because of damage to its wing caused by falling foam during liftoff.

The Endeavour's launch countdown proceeded without major glitches and the weather finally cooperated, with the skies clear after rain showers early in the afternoon.

The mission had been delayed five times — by hydrogen leaks, schedule conflicts, lightning strikes and a couple of rain delays.

That is one short of NASA's record for the number of delays. Two previous missions, one in 1986 and one in 1995, were delayed six times before launching on the seventh attempt.

"Persistence pays off," Peter Nickolenko, the launch director, said to the crew a few minutes before launch. "Good luck and Godspeed."

A camera on the external tank captured about a dozen instances of debris falling off the external tank. At least one, coming off about one minute, 46 seconds after launch, hit the orbiter, leaving three marks on the heat-resistant tiles on the orbiter's underside.

"We don't consider those an issue for us," William H. Gerstenmaier, the associate administrator for space operations, said at a news conference after launch. The white marks were probably just damage to the coating, not deep gouges, he said. "The issues will be in the back in the vehicle," Mr. Gerstenmaier said.

The shuttle crew will use a camera at the end of the robotic arm to examine the leading edges of the wings, and then as the orbiter approaches the space station, it will do a flip to allow the station astronauts to get a good look at the underside.

The mission, scheduled to last 16 days, includes five spacewalks dedicated to the construction of the International Space Station.

Engineers are monitoring one of the Endeavour’s three fuel cells, which generate electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen.

Water is a byproduct, and one of the cells does not seem to be removing the water as efficiently as usual.

Tests "showed we're plenty fine on margin," said Michael P. Moses, the launch integration manager. "I don't expect the fuel cell problem to be any kind of problem at all."

The commander of the Endeavour mission is Mark L. Polansky, and the pilot is Douglas G. Hurley. Also flying on the Endeavour are Christopher J. Cassidy, Timothy L. Kopra, Thomas H. Marshburn and David A. Wolf, all of NASA, and Julie Payette of the Canadian Space Agency.

Mr. Kopra will remain on the International Space Station as a flight engineer, while Koichi Wakata of the Japanese Space Agency, who has been in orbit since March, will return to Earth on the Endeavour.

During liftoff, this crew marked a space exploration milestone. Before this flight, 498 people have been in space, beginning with Yuri Gagarin in 1961. Mr. Hurley, in the pilot's seat, became No. 499, as the Endeavour reached 100 kilometers of altitude, the arbitrary boundary of outer space. Because of his seating position, Mr. Cassidy was the 500th. Mr. Marshburn and Mr. Kopra are also first-time fliers, bringing the total to 502.

The Endeavour is bringing up the final pieces to complete the station's Japanese laboratory. The "front porch" of the laboratory is to hold experimental samples exposed to the extremes of outer space.

1 in 318...odds are not good

"NASA: Shuttle's Risk of Debris Strike Up 6 Percent"

by

Clara Moskowitz

March 6th, 2009

space.com

The recent surge in space junk created by an accidental satellite collision last month has bumped up the upcoming space shuttle mission's chances of taking a catastrophic hit, NASA officials said. However, the likelihood of the shuttle intercepting debris is still so low that mission managers don't foresee any problems.

Engineers analyzed how much danger would be posed to the shuttle Discovery's upcoming STS-119 flight, scheduled to launch March 11, by the new debris, which was created when a U.S. and a Russian communication satellite unexpectedly rammed into each other in orbit. The Feb. 10 smash-up produced two large clouds of shrapnel that are now circling the Earth, NASA said.

The investigation found that the new space junk raises Discovery's risk factor by 6 percent, giving it a chance of about 1 in 318 of being fatally hit by debris. Mission managers had estimated a similar figure shortly after the satellite collision, but said they had reviewed the risk in detail today.

"That is very comparable to almost all of the 14-day missions we fly," said John Shannon, NASA space shuttle program manager, at a briefing today.

The collision occurred about 490 miles (790 km) over Siberia. Discovery is due to fly up to 220 miles (354 km) above Earth, where it will dock with the International Space Station to deliver new solar array wings.

NASA is still assessing the risk to the upcoming Hubble repair space shuttle mission, targeted to fly in late May. The danger to this trip could be greater, managers said, because that shuttle is set to take its crew to an altitude of about 372 miles (600 km), putting it much closer to the range of the collision than the space station is.

"That didn't look so good, when they looked at that," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's space operations chief, has said.


KABOOM!...clash of two titanic satellites

Shot ourselves in the foot?--space debris

Sign post up ahead: Beware of space junk

ISS--"dump or keep" poll

It appears that the vast majority wish to keep and maintain the International Space Station. I would like to hear the "why" arguments. I and a colleague voted no based on the costs, jeopardy of lives, loss of lives, net return on investment being disproportionate to expenses.

The vote:

10 yes
2 no


"The Itsy-Bitsy Spiders" @ the ISS

ISS necessary?

"The Itsy-Bitsy Spiders" @ the ISS

For years I have been critical of the ISS and an efficacy justification on the science being done vs the cost factor and risks, but this is somewhat of a breakthrough and I could soften a little if this policy persists along with revelations of exactly what they are doing in Earth's orbit. Perhaps it is the influence of the Internet. Nevertheless, a K12 experiment concerning arachnids in zero gravity and being broadcast to the world is significant. Web formation would be very interesting.

Itsy-Bitsy Spiders @ the ISS

From PhysOrg.com:

A University of Colorado at Boulder payload of web-spinning spiders and wannabe butterflies delivered to the International Space Station by the space shuttle Endeavour Nov. 14 has generated a buzz among scientists, astronauts, the news media and has even spawned an Internet video set to the music of "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider."

The story began Nov. 14 when a payload containing two orb-weaving spiders and six butterfly larvae was launched to the space station by CU-Boulder's BioServe Space Technologies. The project was designed to allow K-12 students to chart the behaviors of the creatures in the near-weightless environment of space and compare them with their earthbound counterparts.

Colorado and Texas students have their own spiders and butterfly larvae in their classrooms and are playing along at home, so to speak, comparing the differences using video and images beamed from the space station back to Earth by NASA.

The story literally "got some legs" following a news item in the Times of London Nov. 16 with a headline reading "NASA Loses Spider on the International Space Station." The report wasn't quite accurate -- the astronauts knew both spiders were in the payload compartment -- but could not see one of them because it was hidden from view.

The spider activity grabbed the attention of the public, appearing in national wire stories, on the MSNBC news Web site and on the Examiner.com Web site headquartered in San Francisco with regional links to dozens of large U.S. cities. The Examiner site posted a video featuring "space" spiders spinning weightless webs as NASA scientists described the behaviors in low gravity and a child's choir sings "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider."

"Don't forget about the butterflies," said Stefanie Countryman, BioServe's payload mission manager. The larvae -- some anchored to the habitat, others free-floating -- should enter the chrysalis, or pupa, stage by Thanksgiving, then emerge as full-fledged butterflies that hopefully will be flapping about in micro-gravity in about 10 days.

For more information on the project go to University of Colorado at Boulder .

Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper--GUILTY

Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper

Just a few problems this year for shuttle astronauts and ISS citizens: First the toilet broke, then just this week the urine conversion apparatus failed, and now fumble fingers Stefanyshyn-Piper and the slippery tool bag. Next...the thawing device for the frozen Thanksgiving meals malfunctions and yields burnt offerings? I think Heidemarie should pay for the tools.

A backpack-sized tool bag inadvertently dropped from the International Space Station last week is orbiting Earth and has been sighted from the ground. The tool bag is surprisingly bright, about 6th or 7th magnitude, which makes it an easy target for binoculars or a small telescope.--SpaceWeather.com.

In this image from NASA TV, a tool kit bag, center, as seen through the helmet camera of astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, floats away from the International Space Station after she lost hold of it during a procedure during a 6 1/2-hour scheduled space walk outside the space station, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008.

In this image from NASA TV, the hand of astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper is seen at left, through her helmet camera, reaching for a tool kit bag that was lost from her grasp during a procedure during a space walk outside the International Space Station, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008.

Urine conversion?:

Jay Leno, November 17th, NBC:

NASA now says their $154 million machine that converts urine into drinking water is not working properly. How would you like to be the astronaut that found that out?

David Letterman, November 17th, 2008, CBS:

NASA has developed a urine machine that will convert urine into water. Well, guess what? It’s on the blink. And you thought the coffee was bad where you work.

Conan O'Brien, November 17th, 2008, NBC:

Astronauts on board the International Space Station are trying to fix the machine that turns urine into drinking water. Well, actually, the urine converter was fixed days ago, but the astronauts keep saying, "You try it. No, you try it."


ISS has a serious problem--a broken toilet

"Happy Days Are Here Again"...

"Happy Days Are Here Again"...

"Space Station Toilet Is Working Again"

by

John Schwartz

June 5th, 2008

The New York Times

The troublesome toilet aboard the International Space Station appears to be working again, thanks to a replacement pump taken to the station by the shuttle Discovery.

"The toilet appears to have been repaired," said Rob Navias, the commentator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s video channel on the Web, NASA TV.

The single toilet aboard the station has separate systems for dealing with solid and liquid waste, and the systems are designed to work without the help of gravity.

The solid waste system was operating properly, but the liquid system, which uses air flow to direct urine and store it in a receptacle, began malfunctioning more than a week before the shuttle’s arrival on Monday. A pump that separates urine from air and directs the urine into a tank failed; two spare pumps aboard the station were installed and failed as well.

To deal with the malfunctioning high-tech toilet while answering the call of nature, the two Russian cosmonauts and American astronaut who are living aboard the station had to go through a work-around procedure that took a great deal of time and wasted water. Oleg Kononenko, the cosmonaut who did the repair work, replaced the pump with the one delivered by the shuttle and tested the urine collection system.

NASA, anticipating that the fix might not work, had sent up enough backup urine collection devices so that the crew would be able to remain aboard the station until the next resupply ship arrives in September.

The alternate methods of waste disposal, including plastic bags with adhesive and bactericide known as "Apollo bags," because they were used by early astronauts, are not "particularly pleasant," Kirk Shireman, the head of the station program, said on Tuesday in a media briefing. They are, however, "tried and true devices for their intended purposes."

The problem with the toilet, while serious, has become a focus for jokes as the mission approached. When Cmdr. Mark Kelly of the Navy, the commander of the shuttle mission, first entered the station after docking on Monday, he asked, "You looking for a plumber?"

The main goal of this mission is installing the largest portion of a Japanese science module onto the station. That new room for the station, known as Kibo, or "hope," was attached on Tuesday, and at 5 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, Akihiko Hoshide, a member of the crew representing the Japanese space agency, held an opening ceremony. He called it "a great moment for the Japanese folks" and noted that it has taken 20 years to create the module and get it to space. "We have a new ‘hope’ on the space station," he said.

Mr. Hoshide then unveiled a banner over the door that read "Kibo" in Japanese, opened the hatch, and he and other members of the crew entered wearing protective goggles and masks in case debris liberated by the lack of gravity was floating around inside. The 10 members of the combined station and shuttle crew then tumbled and spun in the module, now the largest room on the station.

There was plenty of space for gamboling; the module was shipped to the station without any equipment inside, and will be outfitted later. Before entering, Mr. Hoshide said an engineer on Earth had said, "It looks really empty — but it’s full of dreams."

ISS has a serious problem--a broken toilet

ISS has a serious problem--a broken toilet

See how simple things malfunction...the ISS toilet is partially broken. Fortunately they aren't far away and the shuttle Discovery is scheduled to be launched this Saturday [May 31st, 2008] with an on-board union plumber from Acme Plumbing with necessary supplies. [This emergency weekend craft call by Bruno will cost NASA big bucks.] But suppose the event happened near Jupiter. Just another reason to hold back manned space exploration until these issues can be resolved on-board the craft.

Associated Press:

"Space Station Crew to NASA: Send Plumber Soon"

by

Seth Borenstein

May 28th, 2008

The international space station's lone toilet is broken, leaving the crew with almost nowhere to go. So NASA may order an in-orbit plumbing service call when space shuttle Discovery visits next week.

Until then, the three-man crew will have to make do with a jury-rigged system when they need to urinate.

While one of the crew was using the Russian-made toilet last week, the toilet motor fan stopped working, according to NASA. Since then, the liquid waste gathering part of the toilet has been working on-and-off. Fortunately, the solid waste collecting part is functioning normally. Russian officials don't know the cause of the problem and the crew has been unable to fix it.

The crew has used the toilet on the Soyuz return capsule, but it has a limited capacity. They are now are using a back-up bag-like collection system that can be connected to the broken toilet, according to NASA public affairs officials.

"Like any home anywhere the importance of having a working bathroom is obvious," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said.

The 7-year-old toilet has broken once before but not for as long a time, said Johnson Space Center spokeswoman Nicole Cloutier in Houston.

I cannot wait for the cascading humor.

"Getting a Handle on Space Toilets/Space technology offers only so many ways to answer nature's call when you're in orbit"

by J. R. Minkel

May 30th, 2008

Scientific American

NASA says that the sole commode on the International Space Station is working again after a week on the fritz, but that it's not 100 percent.

The problem: a pump that separates out liquid waste malfunctioned, forcing the station's three crew members to play space plumbers.

"They swapped out lots of pieces of hardware," NASA spokesperson Nicole Cloutier said, noting, "It's still not working in the most ideal sense." To maintain pressure in the pump, she says, crew members (Russian cosmonauts Sergey Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, along with NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman) must manually add water after every three flushes. She says final repairs will likely be made next week when Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to arrive bearing gifts of toilet hardware.

Over the weekend, the crew briefly switched to a toilet on the Russian Soyuz capsule docked with the station that is used for return flights to Earth and has a few days' capacity. They had also been grappling with baglike "wring collectors" that attach to the toilet and bypass the pump.

Space has never been the easiest place to find a bathroom. In microgravity, urine forms floating spheres and feces have no force to separate them from the buttocks. Space toilets use fans to create airflow that pulls urine down the drain, to be either recycled or ejected from the vehicle.

Ejecting liquid waste has caused problems in the past. In 1984 the urine collection system on Discovery had to be shut down when a urine icicle formed that threatened to damage the craft's protective heat tiles if it stuck around and broke free on reentry.

But the urine disposal system apparently had its fans (for reasons other than the obvious): In an interview published in 1977 Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart called the dump of waste liquid at sunset "one of the most beautiful sights" in orbit. "As the stuff comes out, and as it hits the exit nozzle, it instantly flashes into 10 million little ice crystals which go out almost in a hemisphere … a spray of sparklers, almost," he said. "It's really a spectacular sight."

Defecating, however, is apparently a bit less majestic. The Apollo module had no privacy, let alone a bathroom. When Schweickart or one his fellow highly trained colleagues felt nature's call, they taped a plastic bag to their backsides.

"You just float around for awhile doing things with a bag on your butt," Schweickart tells ScientificAmerican.com. Then came the task of dislodging the excrement (no gravity, remember?) without spreading it everywhere. All told, Schweickart said, the process took about an hour.

But it seems like that beats the other alternative—pooping in a spacesuit that contains a "fecal containment system"—a tight-fitting pair of elastic Bermuda shorts. A glorified diaper, in other words. Schweickart said he never used one.

He says that Skylab, the first U.S. space station, launched into orbit in 1973, contained the first proper space toilet.

The space shuttle still carries "Apollo bags" for emergencies, such as the 1984 icicle incident.

"Even with failures," Schweickart says, "life today with the weightless bathroom is easier than it was in the old days."