NASA gives 'Space survival' a new meaning with $19 million toilet
Space survival gets a whole new meaning with NASA fitting in a fancy new $19 million toilet on the International Space Station. The high-tech toilet has been purchased from Russian aerospace firm RCS Energia and the interesting thing is that Russians are not allowed to use it. So, why $19 million for a toilet? Well, this toilet is capable of recycling urine as drinkable water. Since supplies are complex and expensive to deliver, the space station is bound to get along with very less fresh water.
The new toilet puts urine to a U.S.-made filtering system, which separates water molecules from waste as the filter won't let anything larger than tiny water molecules to pass through it. The waste is stored in tanks and disposed to earth. So sad, the Russian half of the space station will have to compromise with the old toilet. Despite the financial crisis, it's cool to see that NASA has paid dear ($19 million) to purify American astronauts' sins.
via Gizmodo
