Comments on: International Space Station Toilet Craps Out http://depletedcranium.com/international-space-station-toilet-craps-out/ Bad Science And Scary Science Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:15:16 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: drbuzz0 http://depletedcranium.com/international-space-station-toilet-craps-out/comment-page-1/#comment-23138 drbuzz0 Sun, 04 Apr 2010 14:50:02 +0000 http://depletedcranium.com/?p=625#comment-23138 [quote comment="23137"]Wooow, It was a good article. I was trying to write an article about "Space Food" that I found you. Thanks ............. I am going to translate your article in persian for my website, is it OK?[/quote] Sure go for it! By the way, this post is somewhat old and the problems with the ISS toilet system are now long solved

        Shahram said:

Wooow, It was a good article. I was trying to write an article about “Space Food” that I found you. Thanks

………….

I am going to translate your article in persian for my website, is it OK?

Sure go for it! By the way, this post is somewhat old and the problems with the ISS toilet system are now long solved

]]> By: Shahram http://depletedcranium.com/international-space-station-toilet-craps-out/comment-page-1/#comment-23137 Shahram Sun, 04 Apr 2010 10:42:08 +0000 http://depletedcranium.com/?p=625#comment-23137 Wooow, It was a good article. I was trying to write an article about "Space Food" that I found you. Thanks ............. I am going to translate your article in persian for my website, is it OK? Wooow, It was a good article. I was trying to write an article about “Space Food” that I found you. Thanks

………….

I am going to translate your article in persian for my website, is it OK?

]]> By: jim http://depletedcranium.com/international-space-station-toilet-craps-out/comment-page-1/#comment-11510 jim Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:35:26 +0000 http://depletedcranium.com/?p=625#comment-11510 Heya, just stopped in. Wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but fine site. Heya, just stopped in. Wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but fine site.

]]> By: chef beta http://depletedcranium.com/international-space-station-toilet-craps-out/comment-page-1/#comment-7707 chef beta Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:00:10 +0000 http://depletedcranium.com/?p=625#comment-7707 Fine posted article. ESA and Boeing did'nt on prefunctory search have much useful data.. The old philosphy was that if an item was mission critical a backup was mandatory. Ex. the 5 seperate computers on shuttle. The rent on this Boeing ISS thing kinda high, cant afford no downtime. I'm not sure how this got so screwed up. There may be a pattern. Ex. deranged us navy testpilot shuttle crewmember. Maybe she sabatoged the Boeing ISS restroom. Fine posted article. ESA and Boeing did’nt on prefunctory search
have much useful data.. The old philosphy was that if an item was mission critical
a backup was mandatory. Ex. the 5 seperate computers on shuttle. The rent on this
Boeing ISS thing kinda high, cant afford no downtime. I’m not sure how this got
so screwed up. There may be a pattern. Ex. deranged us navy testpilot shuttle
crewmember. Maybe she sabatoged the Boeing ISS restroom.

]]> By: John Watson http://depletedcranium.com/international-space-station-toilet-craps-out/comment-page-1/#comment-7641 John Watson Sat, 31 May 2008 13:06:11 +0000 http://depletedcranium.com/?p=625#comment-7641 LOL, I wonder if they can just "hang it out the window" and let it "fly". Wouldn't that be hilarious. JJ http://www.Privacy-center.net LOL, I wonder if they can just “hang it out the window” and let it “fly”. Wouldn’t that be hilarious.

JJ
http://www.Privacy-center.net

]]> By: Mister Yuk http://depletedcranium.com/international-space-station-toilet-craps-out/comment-page-1/#comment-7634 Mister Yuk Sat, 31 May 2008 06:35:37 +0000 http://depletedcranium.com/?p=625#comment-7634 Lovely. Just lovely. You're right that the toilets you see pictures of as representative of the ones in space always look so much nicer than that. I have heard before that the space station does not always smell so good because the air is recycled and the filtration system does not always have the capacity to remove the complete smell of sweat and dirty socks and the toilet facilities and stuff. Every time I see stuff from the space station it's so disappointing, because I remember when it was being proposed it was always sold as being all pimped out, modern, streamlined, clean, spacious and all that good stuff and when you see the station it does not look any better than Mir did. It looks like a rigged up thing that is far from the mockups they showed everyone. it's so much smaller and crappier than it was supposed to be! Lovely. Just lovely. You’re right that the toilets you see pictures of as representative of the ones in space always look so much nicer than that. I have heard before that the space station does not always smell so good because the air is recycled and the filtration system does not always have the capacity to remove the complete smell of sweat and dirty socks and the toilet facilities and stuff.

Every time I see stuff from the space station it’s so disappointing, because I remember when it was being proposed it was always sold as being all pimped out, modern, streamlined, clean, spacious and all that good stuff and when you see the station it does not look any better than Mir did. It looks like a rigged up thing that is far from the mockups they showed everyone.

it’s so much smaller and crappier than it was supposed to be!

]]> By: Dave G http://depletedcranium.com/international-space-station-toilet-craps-out/comment-page-1/#comment-7624 Dave G Thu, 29 May 2008 02:31:25 +0000 http://depletedcranium.com/?p=625#comment-7624 I found this post facinating and kinda nasty at the same time :-) Anyways I did some looking online and the real space toilets never look as good as the ones in the mockups. Here's the one from Mir which is what the one on the ISS is based on. I guess they're basically the same because what can you do with a toilet now that you couldn't in the 80's, right? http://bp2.blogger.com/_VRIPUQofXu8/RfwX_cif22I/AAAAAAAAASk/r7-62LSexeY/s1600-h/mirtoilet.jpg I can't find any good pictures of the skylab one though. Here's a couple of the skylab waste and hygene room: http://history.nasa.gov/diagrams/sk006.gif http://history.nasa.gov/SP-400/ch5.htm I found this post facinating and kinda nasty at the same time :-)

Anyways I did some looking online and the real space toilets never look as good as the ones in the mockups.

Here’s the one from Mir which is what the one on the ISS is based on. I guess they’re basically the same because what can you do with a toilet now that you couldn’t in the 80’s, right?

http://bp2.blogger.com/_VRIPUQofXu8/RfwX_cif22I/AAAAAAAAASk/r7-62LSexeY/s1600-h/mirtoilet.jpg

I can’t find any good pictures of the skylab one though. Here’s a couple of the skylab waste and hygene room:

http://history.nasa.gov/diagrams/sk006.gif
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-400/ch5.htm

]]> By: drbuzz0 http://depletedcranium.com/international-space-station-toilet-craps-out/comment-page-1/#comment-7623 drbuzz0 Thu, 29 May 2008 01:39:53 +0000 http://depletedcranium.com/?p=625#comment-7623 Oh by the way, I want to add one thing: The two photos of the toilet on the ISS are actual photos of the toilet on the ISS. If you search for images yhou will find that there are a bunch of pictures which are reportedly to be the toilet on the ISS, but they're actually ground mockups. The ground mockups are actually a bit nicer than the one on the actual space station, which is basically a stainless steel can with a sort of toilet seat thing on it and the retractable urine funnel shown. Here are some of the images which are NOT the ISS toilet: http://picasaweb.google.com/route66roadtrip07/CrossCountryTripDay3/photo#5071619894136094354 http://theworldsmostexpensiveblog.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/worlds-most-expensive-toilets/ Yeah, the real thing is, as you can see, a bit less shiny and refined and a lot more basic. Also, you sometimes see the Space Shuttle toilet captioned as being the one on the ISS. It's not used on the ISS (Well, unless the shuttle is docked) and actually the shuttle toilet is kinda nicer because the astronauts don't have to worry about the waste, as it all gets chopped up and put into a holding tank on the shuttle. The tank is evacuated to dry out the liquid and the solid is removed on the ground. It's a bit like an aircraft toilet in the storage system. The ISS does not have the benefit of ground crews to clear out a tank after a relatively short flight, so it's not as simple as flushing. It uses bags that need to be changed and stuff like that. The shuttle one looks more pleasant in general, but it doesn't have the endurance. Oh by the way, I want to add one thing: The two photos of the toilet on the ISS are actual photos of the toilet on the ISS. If you search for images yhou will find that there are a bunch of pictures which are reportedly to be the toilet on the ISS, but they’re actually ground mockups. The ground mockups are actually a bit nicer than the one on the actual space station, which is basically a stainless steel can with a sort of toilet seat thing on it and the retractable urine funnel shown.

Here are some of the images which are NOT the ISS toilet:

http://picasaweb.google.com/route66roadtrip07/CrossCountryTripDay3/photo#5071619894136094354
http://theworldsmostexpensiveblog.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/worlds-most-expensive-toilets/

Yeah, the real thing is, as you can see, a bit less shiny and refined and a lot more basic.

Also, you sometimes see the Space Shuttle toilet captioned as being the one on the ISS. It’s not used on the ISS (Well, unless the shuttle is docked) and actually the shuttle toilet is kinda nicer because the astronauts don’t have to worry about the waste, as it all gets chopped up and put into a holding tank on the shuttle. The tank is evacuated to dry out the liquid and the solid is removed on the ground. It’s a bit like an aircraft toilet in the storage system.

The ISS does not have the benefit of ground crews to clear out a tank after a relatively short flight, so it’s not as simple as flushing. It uses bags that need to be changed and stuff like that. The shuttle one looks more pleasant in general, but it doesn’t have the endurance.

]]> By: Tako Nigiri http://depletedcranium.com/international-space-station-toilet-craps-out/comment-page-1/#comment-7622 Tako Nigiri Thu, 29 May 2008 00:56:06 +0000 http://depletedcranium.com/?p=625#comment-7622 Wow! This was a very interesting article... gross to think about but very cool. I have seen the waste collection devices for the Apollo missions which were basically like a bag with a tube leading to a condom-like thing, I as I recall. The ISS one looks a lot closer to a toilet. I love the picture of the space plumbers! Wow! This was a very interesting article… gross to think about but very cool. I have seen the waste collection devices for the Apollo missions which were basically like a bag with a tube leading to a condom-like thing, I as I recall. The ISS one looks a lot closer to a toilet.
I love the picture of the space plumbers!

]]> By: Gordon http://depletedcranium.com/international-space-station-toilet-craps-out/comment-page-1/#comment-7621 Gordon Thu, 29 May 2008 00:35:58 +0000 http://depletedcranium.com/?p=625#comment-7621 I am also surprised urine is not straight recycled on the ISS. I did some research and it seems that most of the water is a closed loop but urine collection is often discharged into space but sometime used. I think as it is said it is mostly used to make oxygen. They also have water from fuel cells, but I'm not sure how much those are used becasue of the general use of solar. It seems that the urine would be used for making oxygen primarily it sounds like they basically dump it but the way it is recovered is they evaporate some and then it's just grabbed by the same condensers that keep the humidity under control. There's not much info. I don't really get the whole water to oxygen thing with discharging hydrogen though. It seems to make little sense. Why not just bring up liquid oxygen? I mean it sounds like it replaces one consumable with another but no positive return. Also, with fuel cells I'm wondering if it's regenerated and also why the hydrogen would be dumped unless it was surplus and not enough oxygen to use it? Why would you have fuel cells if you're splitting water unless you are undoing it for load balancing when you have high power needs? Honestly, I'm very confused by exactly how they are doing this up there. It's not making a lot of sense to me, but maybe I'm missing something. I am also surprised urine is not straight recycled on the ISS. I did some research and it seems that most of the water is a closed loop but urine collection is often discharged into space but sometime used. I think as it is said it is mostly used to make oxygen. They also have water from fuel cells, but I’m not sure how much those are used becasue of the general use of solar.

It seems that the urine would be used for making oxygen primarily it sounds like they basically dump it but the way it is recovered is they evaporate some and then it’s just grabbed by the same condensers that keep the humidity under control. There’s not much info.

I don’t really get the whole water to oxygen thing with discharging hydrogen though. It seems to make little sense. Why not just bring up liquid oxygen? I mean it sounds like it replaces one consumable with another but no positive return. Also, with fuel cells I’m wondering if it’s regenerated and also why the hydrogen would be dumped unless it was surplus and not enough oxygen to use it? Why would you have fuel cells if you’re splitting water unless you are undoing it for load balancing when you have high power needs?

Honestly, I’m very confused by exactly how they are doing this up there. It’s not making a lot of sense to me, but maybe I’m missing something.

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