Energy

NASA Pays $5 Million To Turn Pee Into Drinking Water

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NASA needs astronauts to drink even more of their own bodily fluids in space.

To reduce the cost of resupply missions and make space travel more efficient, NASA is developing new recycling systems to capture as much water as possible from urine and sweat.

NASA announced a $5.1 million contract with Paragon Space Development Corporation of Tucson, Ariz., for a new water recovery system for the International Space Station.

Currently, the International Space Station (ISS) uses a Water Recovery System from 2008 that can turn 93 percent of body fluids into drinking water, but NASA wants to increase that number to 94 percent with the new system. Ultimately, NASA a say they want to recycle 98 percent of bodily fluids, according to Paragon’s website.

NASA needs to improve life supports systems dramatically in preparation for the ambitious mission to Mars– a trip that will last nearly three years. “The reduction of costly resupply launches from Earth is essential to future human deep space missions, including NASA’s Journey to Mars,” NASA said in a statement.

Paragon has a few years to prepare the system before the technology is launched to the ISS in 2018, Digital Trends reports.

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